White House spokesman Jay Carney said that Obama would engage Americans "in the coming weeks" on a possible approaches, after he pledged at a vigil for last week's school shooting to use all the powers at his disposal.

"I don't have a series of proposals to present to you. The president spoke yesterday about moving forward in the coming weeks," Carney said.

"I don't have a specific agenda to announce to you today. I will simply point you to what the president said last night about moving forward in the coming weeks. I would look for him to do that."

Carney did however say that Obama still supported a reinstatement of the ban on assault weapons ban that expired in 2004, following growing talk in Congress about a bid to renew the measure.