Violence playing a role in shorter US life expectancy

The findings, released Wednesday by two leading US health research institutions, took on urgency because the report comes less than a month after the shooting deaths of 20 children and six adults at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.

The tragedy has fired up both sides of the gun control debate in a way that other recent mass shootings in the US could not. President, Barack Obama promised swift action to curb gun violence and vowed his administration would not shy away from an issue that is one of the most divisive in the country.