London, Jan 10 : President Barack Obama is considering the use of an executive order to restrict access to guns or ammunition in the wake of the Connecticut school shootings, Vice-president Joe Biden has said.

Such a move would be deeply controversial in the gun lobby, but Biden said the president was determined to explore every legislative avenue.

In a briefing to reporters before the inaugural meeting of a new national task force on gun control, Biden said that the president is going to act.

According to the Guardian, he said that they had not decided on the executive order or executive action that can be taken, but were compiling it all with the help of the attorney general and the rest of the cabinet members.

Biden did not specify what kind of action the president might take.

In the past the Obama administration has used executive orders, which have the force of law, to require gun dealers to report when customers buy multiple high-powered rifles and to increase penalties for violating gun laws.

Biden said that the 14 December massacre at a Connecticut elementary school, in which 20 first-graders were shot dead in their classrooms by a man armed with a semi-automatic rifle, had mobilised the nation to act, the report said.

According to the report, the national taskforce includes the victims of mass shootings and gun control advocates.

The group plans to meet on Thursday with representatives of the National Rifle Association and gun retailers, including Walmart.

The taskforce was to deliver recommendations to the president as early as mid-month, the report added. (ANI)