WASHINGTON — The White House made clear Thursday that new legislation on gun control will not be on the political agenda this election year, as President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney engaged in their most extensive discussions on the issue since last week’s Colorado theater shootings.

Their comments revived — if briefly — a sensitive debate that has faded to the background in national politics and been virtually nonexistent in this year’s close presidential race.

While Obama called for tougher background checks on Americans trying to buy a gun, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the president is not pushing for new gun control legislation, though he still supports a ban on assault weapons. Carney said Obama intends to focus on other ways to combat violence.

Romney has said changing the nation’s laws would not prevent gun-related tragedies.

Sealing the matter, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday the Senate’s schedule is too packed to even have a debate on gun control. Asked if the Senate might debate the issue next year, Reid said: “Nice try.”

Election results in key states would immediately be subject to legal challenges. Electors, normally an anonymous batch of party insiders elected to ratify each state's winner with their electoral votes, would be lobbied to change their votes by friends, neighbors and political leaders.

Ultimately, the House of Representatives could elect the next president, even if that candidate lost the popular vote.

"What it would reveal is that we have, in some sense, a profoundly undemocratic mechanism for dealing with a tie," said Alex Keyssar, a professor of history and social policy at Harvard University, and a critic of the Electoral College. "I think there would be an enormous outcry over that."

The White House signaled Thursday that President Barack Obama would not be seeking new gun control laws in the aftermath of the mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. But press secretary Jay Carney said Obama would try to find ways to work around the "stalemate" in Congress to keep firearms out of the wrong hands.

During a brief photo-op with his Cabinet, Obama himself sidestepped a reporter's question about how he would proceed without seeking new legislation.

"I'm sure we'll have more opportunity to talk about this," the president said.
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