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Dem, GOP senators work on background check deal

By Alan Fram
Published April 7, 2013 7:25pm ET
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Dem, GOP senators work on background check deal
FILE - In this March 14, 2013, file photo, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Congress returns Monday, April 8, 2013, from a two-week spring recess with gun control and immigration high on the Senate's agenda. Short of unanimous support in their own party, Democratic senators have been unable to strike a deal with Republicans for the votes they will need to push background check legislation through the chamber. Reid might delay debate to give bargainers more time, underscoring how crucial the proposal is to the gun control drive. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File) | Cliff Owen

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate aides say a Democratic and a Republican senator are working on a compromise expanding required federal background checks to gun shows and to online firearms sales.

If an agreement could be completed, it could represent a significant breakthrough in the effort by President Barack Obama and his allies to restrict guns in the wake of the mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., that killed 26 first-graders and staff last December.

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