The Army's C-RAM (Counter Rocket, Artillery and Mortar) system, for example, which is used to protect American bases in Afghanistan, can fire on its own, using its six-barrel gun to blow up incoming mortars.

WSJ: Could We Trust Killer Robots?

Six days before the failed gun attack - no arrests have been made yet - Mr Pandey had his first near-assignation with death.

BBC: India's perilous road to transparency

Six more states require background checks for gun-show sales of handguns, but not for rifles or shotguns, Nichols said.

CNN: 'Universal background check:' What does it mean?

And in Arizona, a staunchly pro-gun state where the 2011 assassination attempt of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson left six dead and 13 wounded, the drive for gun control following Newtown has been a non-starter.

WSJ: Few states find narrow route to gun control laws

The brigade had placed a pick-up truck mounted with an anti-aircraft gun underneath each of the six planes on the tarmac, our correspondent says.

BBC: Plane on tarmac in Tripoli - file pic

The amendment will be one of perhaps dozens to be debated on the broader package of gun laws drafted in response to the killing of 20 first-graders and six educators at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

CNN: Senate gun law proposal lacks enough support now