US gun restrictions have widespread public support: Poll

WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - About three-quarters of Americans surveyed support proposals to ban the sale of automatic weapons, ban high-capacity ammunition clips and expand background checks on all gun buyers, according to an online Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday.

Those proposals were at the heart of President Barack Obama's package of recommendations to Congress on Wednesday designed to curb gun violence after last month's elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, that killed 20 children and six adults.

Mr Obama's plan has drawn heavy opposition from gun-rights advocates, led by the National Rifle Association (NRA), and faces a tough battle for approval in the coming months in a divided and fiercely partisan Congress.

The reinstatement of a ban on assault weapons, which was approved in 1994 but expired 10 years later when Congress failed to renew it, is seen as the toughest sell to lawmakers, even though the poll found broad public support for it.