Obama unveils new gun control laws in emotional speech

US President Barack Obama will leave one seat empty during his final State of the Union address at the White House next week to represent the victims of gun violence, officials have revealed.

For the first time during his presidency, Mr Obama - a long-time advocate of tighter gun control - plans to leave the seat unfilled to make a political point.

It comes after the president gave an emotional speech detailing his plans to override Congress and introduce more stringent requirements for gun dealers and owners, breaking down in tears as he spoke of the Sandy Hook massacre.

The annual State of the Union address is held to give the president chance to outline his legislative agenda for the coming months, and discuss national priorities.

Despite a few days of heavy campaigning by the White House on the issue of gun control, aides told the New York Times that the Mr Obama's speech was unlikely to focus strongly on the matter, instead choosing to let the empty seat speak for him.

The mother of a child killed in the Sandy Hook shooting said she is "proud" of President Obama for tightening gun controls.

Nicole Hockley – the mother of Dylan Hockley, a six-year-old shot in the Sandy Hook massacre - said she couldn't understand why anyone would oppose the gun laws.

Ms Hockley said: "I feel like I've been waiting for these words for almost three years now and it still not enough. We still have a lot of steps that need to be taken to save more lives."

She added: "I'm very proud of our president for keeping his commitment to us that he made three years ago when we lost our children."

She said it was not the first time she had seen Obama cry and it wasn't the "first or last time she had cried".

The wife of the pastor killed in the Charleston shooting last year has backed President Obama's new gun control measures.

Mr Pinckney was shot dead in a gun attack on the Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in June 2015.