The Senate's rejection of more robust gun purchase background checks was a stinging blow to President Obama that raised questions about his second-term agenda.
Expanding background checks had become a key part of Obama's post-Newtown push for tougher federal gun control laws. And in recent weeks, the president had campaigned for overall gun control legislation — especially the bipartisan background-check compromise — with a sense of urgency.
But neither the president's campaigning or plaintive personal appeals by family members of the Newtown victims, some of whom witnessed Wednesday's Senate vote in person, were able to push the Senate to cast the 60 votes needed to move the measure forward.
At a news conference, an obviously angry Obama blamed the loss on what he called NRA distortions of the legislation's purpose:
"The point is, those who care deeply about preventing more and more gun violence will have to be as passionate and as organized and as vocal as those who blocked these common-sense steps to help keep our kids safe. Ultimately, you outnumber those who argued the other way. But they're better organized, they're better financed, they've been at it longer and they make sure to stay focused on this one issue during election time."