United States senators have struck a hard-fought compromise that could expand background checks to all commercial firearms sales.
The breakthrough could lead to the most ambitious change to American gun laws since 1994, the ABC reports.
A bill co-sponsored by a Democrat and a Republican sets the stage for a senate debate, when the Democratic-led chamber is expected to defeat Republican efforts to block it.
The amendment would see background checks - the core of President Barack Obama's gun control push - expanded to include all sales at gun shows and on the internet.
Despite falling short of Mr Obama's proposal for universal background checks, the president noted the "significant bipartisan progress" of the compromise.
Mr Obama has been calling for gun controls since a massacre at a school in Connecticut in December last year.
Meanwhile, Michelle Obama became emotional in a speech recalling the life of a teenage girl recently gunned down in Chicago.
The First Lady was in her hometown to join the mayor, Rahm Emanuel, in urging the business community to help raise $US50 million for anti-violence youth programmes.
During her speech, Mrs Obama first told civic leaders that gun regulations her husband has proposed deserve a vote in Congress and then asked the group to support the programmes, America's National Public Radio reports.
In February this year, she attended the funeral of the 15-year-old Chicago girl Hadiya Pendleton, who performed in Washington at an inauguration event and was shot later in Chicago.
"Hadiya's family was just like my family. Hadiya Pendleton was me - and I was her. But I got to grow up," Mrs Obama said.
The First Lady also met privately with students at a high school where several former and current students had been victims of gun violence.
