In recent months, U.S. President Barack Obama has been put under increasing pressure to tighten gun laws after such devastating incidents as the one on December 14, 2012, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

The United States has the highest gun ownership rate in the developed world with approximately 90 guns for every 100 citizens and 8,583 firearms-related fatalities in 2011 (63 of which were law enforcement officers). In 2012, 49 U.S. law enforcement officers were reported feloniously killed in the line of duty as the result of a firearm.