Obama to speak on gun control after vote fails

(AP) Obama to speak on gun control after vote fails
WASHINGTON
The White House says President Barack Obama will deliver a statement on reducing gun violence Wednesday after a vote to expand background checks failed in the Senate.

The Senate vote was a major blow to Obama’s push on gun control. Expanding background checks was the focal point of Obama’s proposals drafted after the December shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

Vice President Joe Biden said just before the vote that tighter gun control measures will eventually pass, suggesting the White House wouldn’t abandon its push even though the vote appeared headed toward failure.

A majority of senators backed the measure, but it fell well short of the 60 votes needed to advance. Forty-one Republicans and five Democrats sided together to scuttle the plan.