Gore, along with President Bill Clinton and leading Democrats, attacked the decision to leave the gun laws unchanged in a year that has seen a spate of mass shootings in schools and workplaces the latest occurring this week.

In Seattle on Wednesday, a gunman in camouflage gear killed two workers at a boat repair yard. The day before in Honolulu, Hawaii, seven died in an office shooting spree by a colleague who owned two shotguns, nine rifles and 11 pistols.

The National Rifle Association's president, Charlton Heston, told a Congressional committee on Capitol Hill on Thursday that no new laws were needed to control violent crime. He called for existing legislation to be enforced more effectively and more prosecutions to be brought.

Outside the building, Goreled senior Democrats in a series of denunciations of Republican leaders in the House of Representatives, who have refused to allow debate on a juvenile crime bill that would ban the free sale of firearms at gun shows and require safety locks on all guns stored at home.

``The Republican leadership in Congress has practically handed the Speaker's gavel over to the gun lobby,'' Gore said. ``When it comes to guns, the Republicans are letting the NRA control the agenda, lock, stock and barrel. It is wrong. It is outrageous.''

President Clinton appealed to Congress to send him ``commonsense legislation'' on gun control.

``Our nation continues on this day to be reminded of the horrors of gun violence. We need to do more to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and children,'' he said.

The attorney general, Janet Reno said: ``All America has now seen what guns do and how easy access to guns produces such tragedies.'' She urged Congress to ``get the job done''. The accused in the Honolulu shootings,40-year-old Byran Uyesugi, gave himself up after a five-hour armed stand-off with police on Tuesday. He faces life imprisonment if convicted on charges of first-degree murder, the city prosecutor, Peter Carlisle, has said.

Hawaii does not have the death penalty. The Seattle killings also took place at a workplace and appeared to involve a gunman who knew his targets.

The killer walked into the shipyard and headed straight for a small back office before opening fire and killing two men. The victims were a 43-year-old marine engineer and the 27-year-old general manager of the company.

-- The Observer News Service