Connecticut school shooting: NRA-backed senator calls for gun controls Democrats say the "meaningful action" President Barack Obama has promised in the wake of last week's shooting in Newtown, Connecticut must include a ban on the military-style assault weapons, magazine clips with more than 10 rounds, and a look at how the country deals with individuals suffering from serious mental illness. On Sunday, several Democratic congressmen, and Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman from Connecticut, said it was time to take a deeper look into the recent series of mass shootings and what can be done. Gun control was a hot topic in the early 1990s, when Congress enacted a 10-year ban on assault weapons. But since that ban expired in 2004, few Americans have wanted stricter laws, and politicians say they don't want to become targets of a powerful gun rights lobby. Gun rights advocates said that might all change after the latest shooting, which killed 20 children aged 6 or 7, along with six adults. "I think we could be at a tipping point ... a tipping point where we might actually get something done," said Senator Chuck Schumer on CBS' "Face the Nation." Speaking Sunday night at a vigil in Newtown, Connecticut, the site of Friday's massacre, Mr Obama did not specifically address gun control. But he vowed, "In the coming weeks I'll use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens, from law enforcement to mental health professionals to parents and educators in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this." He added: "Are we really prepared to say that we're powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard? Mr Lieberman said a new commission should be created to look at gun laws and the mental health system, as well as violence in movies and video games. "Assault weapons were developed for the US military, not commercial gun manufacturers," said Lieberman, who is retiring next year. Senator Dianne Feinstein said she will introduce legislation next year to ban new assault weapons, as well as big clips, drums and strips of more than 10 bullets. Congress is expected to adjourn soon for the upcoming Christmas holiday. "It can be done," Mrs Feinstein told NBC's "Meet the Press" of reinstating the ban despite deep opposition by the National Rifle Association and similar groups. Mr Bloomberg said Obama could use executive powers to enforce existing gun laws, as well as throw his weight behind legislation like Feinstein's. It's time for the president, I think, to stand up and lead and tell this country what we should do - not go to Congress and say, 'What do you guys want to do?' Bloomberg told NBC's "Meet the Press." Gun rights activists have remained largely quiet on the issue since Friday's shooting. The NRA has suspended its Facebook and Twitter activitiy. David Gregory, the host of "Meet the Press," said NBC invited all 31 "pro-gun" senators to appear on Sunday's show, and all 31 declined. Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas was the sole representative of gun rights' activists on the various Sunday political talk shows. In an interview on "Fox News Sunday" Mr Gohmert defended the sale of assault weapons and said that the principal at Sandy Hook Elementary School, who authorities say died trying to overtake the shooter, should herself have been armed. I wish to God she had had an M-4 in her office, locked up so when she heard gunfire, she pulls it out and she didn't have to lunge heroically with nothing in her hands. But she takes him (the shooter) out, takes his head off before he can kill those precious kids," he said. Mr Gohmert also argued that violence is lower in cities with lax gun laws, and higher in cities with stricter laws. "The facts are that every time guns have been allowed - conceal-carry [gun laws] have been allowed - the crime rate has gone down," Gohmert said. Gun control advocates say that isn't true. A study by the California-based Law Centre to Prevent Gun Violence determined that seven of the 10 states with the strongest gun laws - including Connecticut, Massachusetts and California - are also among the 10 states with the lowest gun death rates. Gun rights advocates have always said that an assault weapon bans would lead to further gun controls and eventually a repeal of the Second Amendment, but Manchin and Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough both commented that the Second Amendment shouldn't protect the right to own weapons designed for combat.