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WASHINGTON (AP) — It's an issue that President Barack Obama says makes him "mad" -- and it's one that can bring him to tears. As Obama announced new executive actions today aimed at expanding background checks for gun buyers, he spoke of the mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, as well as shootings in South Carolina, Louisiana and Colorado -- and on the streets of his Chicago hometown. He paused and wiped a tear from his left eye, but tears flowed freely down both cheeks. Obama defended the steps he's taking, saying they are constitutional -- and that as a former constitutional law professor, he knows "a little about this."
WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Rifle Association says President Barack Obama's executive actions on gun control are "ripe for abuse" and lack seriousness. The nation's largest gun group is accusing Obama of political exploitation for announcing the steps in the last year of his presidency. Chris Cox, who runs the NRA's lobbying arm, says the actions wouldn't have prevented any of the mass shootings that Obama mentioned when he announced the steps at the White House.
BALTIMORE (AP) — The state of Maryland and the city of Baltimore plan to demolish thousands of vacant buildings in the city over the next four years, starting in the neighborhood where Freddie Gray was fatally injured in police custody. Gov. Larry Hogan and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced the plan today. Gray's death prompted civil unrest that highlighted the urban decay. The plan includes $75 million in state funding to demolish blocks of abandoned buildings to create space for affordable housing, businesses and parks.
RENO, Nev. (AP) — A coroner's official says an autopsy isn't planned on a 20-year-old woman who was at the center of an end-of-life court battle in Reno, Nevada. The official says because Aden Hailu (AY'-dehn HEHL'-oo) died at a hospital, a county autopsy isn't required. Hailu failed to awake from anesthesia after abdominal surgery April 1. Doctors had pronounced her dead in May, but her father appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court to have her kept on life-support.
LONDON (AP) — British lawmakers will debate a petition that calls for Donald Trump to be banned from the country — and a rival petition saying he should be allowed in. More than half a million people signed an online petition calling for Trump to be blocked after he called last month for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States. Almost 40,000 people backed one saying he should not be barred. Any U.K. citizen or resident can start a petition on Parliament's website.
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