WASHINGTON, Jan 13: The president of the top US firearms lobby said on Sunday that his organisation had enough backing from lawmakers to defeat a plan to outlaw assault weapons and sales of high-capacity ammunition clips.

David Keene, president of the National Rifle Association, told CNN’s “State of the Union,” such proposals would not pass, despite recent widespread outrage at the shooting deaths of 26 pupils and staff at a Connecticut school.

“Right now we do,” Keene answered, when asked if the NRA has sufficient support on Capitol Hill to defeat proposals to ban assault weapons, though he said President Barack Obama seemed determined to overhaul current gun laws.

“When a president takes all of the power of the office if he is willing to expend the political capital, you don’t want to make predictions, and you don’t want to bet your house on the outcome.

“But I would say that the likelihood is that they are not going to be able to get an assault weapons ban through this Congress,” Keene said.

US Vice President Joe Biden met an NRA representative along with other gun rights groups last week as part of a policy review that he pledged would deliver its recommendations to Mr Obama by Tuesday.—AFP