However, NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre told the panel that the current background check system doesn't work, so expanding it would only create an unmanageable government bureaucracy instead of reducing gun crime.

CNN: Obama still backs new gun ban; top senator less certain

Seventeen submitted fewer than 10 records, and four states hadn't reported a single record to the federal background check system, according to the federal investigation, conducted by the Government Accountability Office.

CNN: How the violent mentally ill can buy guns

And the Department of Health and Human Services said it would write new rules to ensure that federal health-privacy law doesn't prevent states from providing records to the background-check system.

WSJ: Obama's Gun Orders Face Hurdles