Obama spoke yesterday after meeting with his National Security Council. Democrat Hillary Clinton has called for a similar ban, while Republican Donald Trump is opposing reinstatement of the ban.
The shooter in the Orlando attack, Omar Mateen, used a military-style assault weapon to blast away at an Orlando nightclub, killing 49 people.
The ban on semi-automatic assault weapons that expired in 2004. The large majority of Republicans in Congress and some pro-gun Democrats have opposed reinstatement of the ban.