Barack Obama's tears over shooting which killed Hampshire schoolboy during gun laws speech

President Barack Obama was moved to tears giving a press conference on US gun laws where the families of victims of mass shootings were present, including those from the Sandy Hook Elementary School.

It was here in 2012 that six-year-old Dylan Hockley, of Eastleigh, was gunned down by a crazed murderer along with 19 of his classmates.

The president was unveiling plans to tighten gun control in America, using his presidential powers in the absence of legal changes he had implored Congress to pass.

The US president wiped tears away as he recalled the 20 young children killed at the school in Newtown, Connecticut.

He paid tribute to the parents - some of whom were present for the announcement - who he said had never imagined their child's life would be cut short by a bullet.

''Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad,'' Mr Obama said.

Dylan was found in the arms of one of the six teachers who also lost their lives.

His family, including parents Ian and Nicole Hockley, had only just moved from Eastleigh to the USA after Ian transferred his job at IBM in Hursley to New York.

Along with other bereaved parents, the couple belong to a group called the Sandy Hook Promise, which lobbies for better mental health support and tighter firearm controls.

Mr Obama accused the gun lobby of having taken Congress hostage, but declared: ''They cannot hold America hostage.''

He insisted it is possible to uphold the US Second Amendment while doing something to tackle the frequency of mass shootings in America that he said had become ''the new normal''.

The much-debated Second Amendment of the Constitution guarantees the right of US citizens to own firearms.

Mr Obama insisted: ''This is not a plot to take away everybody's guns.

''You pass a background check, you purchase a firearm. The problem is, some gun sellers have been operating under a different set of rules.''

Mr Obama's actions ensure that gun rights - one of the most bitterly divisive issues in America - will be at the forefront of the 2016 presidential campaign, which begins in earnest next month with the first primary contests.

Dylan Hockley

Accusing Mr Obama of overreaching his responsibilities, many of the Republican presidential candidates have vowed to rip up the new gun restrictions upon taking office.

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton said she was proud of Mr Obama's efforts and promised she would safeguard them.

At the centrepiece of Mr Obama's plan is a more sweeping definition of gun dealers that the administration hopes will expand the number of sales subject to background checks.

Under current law, only federally-licensed gun dealers must conduct background checks on buyers. But at gun shows, websites and flea markets, sellers often skirt that requirement by declining to register as licensed dealers.

Aiming to close that loophole, the US Justice Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is issuing updated guidance that says the government should deem anyone ''in the business'' of selling guns to be a dealer, regardless of where he or she sells the guns.

The government will also consider other factors, including how many guns a person sells, how frequently, and whether those weapons are sold for a profit.

The White House also put sellers on notice that the administration planned to strengthen enforcement - including deploying 230 new examiners the FBI will hire to process background checks.

It assembled a cross-section of Americans whose lives were altered by recent gun tragedies, including former representative Gabrielle Giffords and relatives of victims from Charleston, South Carolina and Virginia Tech for the press conference.

Mark Barden, whose son was shot dead at Sandy Hook, introduced the president with a declaration that ''we are better than this''.

In the USA, there are five murders a year per 100,000 people, 60 per cent of which were by someone shooting them with gun.

By comparison, in the UK there is one murder per 100,000, just 10 per cent of which involve a firearm.