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President Barack Obama has admitted that his failure to pass "common sense gun safety laws" in the US is the greatest frustration of his presidency.

In an interview with the BBC, Mr Obama said it was "distressing" not to have made progress on the issue "even in the face of repeated mass killings".

He vowed to keep trying, but the BBC's North America editor Jon Sopel said the president did not sound very confident.
However, Mr Obama said race relations had improved during his presidency.

Hours after the interview, a gunman opened fire at a cinema in the US state of Louisiana, killing two people and injuring several others before shooting himself.

In a wide-ranging interview, President Obama also said:

The UK must stay in the EU to have influence on the world stage
He is confident the Iran nuclear deal will be passed by Congress
Syria needs a political solution in order to defeat the Islamic State group
He would speak "bluntly" against corruption and human rights violations in Kenya
He would defend his advocacy of gay rights following protests in Kenya
Despite racial tensions, the US is becoming more diverse and more tolerant

Mr Obama lands in Kenya later on Friday for his first visit since becoming president.
But with just 18 months left in power, he said gun control was the area where he has been "most frustrated and most stymied" since coming to power in 2009.

"If you look at the number of Americans killed since 9/11 by terrorism, it's less than 100. If you look at the number that have been killed by gun violence, it's in the tens of thousands," Mr Obama said.

"For us not to be able to resolve that issue has been something that is distressing," he added.

Mr Obama has pushed for stricter gun control throughout his presidency but has been unable to secure any significant changes to the laws.
After nine African-American churchgoers were killed in South Carolina in June, he admitted "politics in this town" meant there were few options available.

On race relations, Mr Obama said recent concerns around policing and mass incarcerations were "legitimate and deserve intense attention" but insisted progress had been made.

Children growing up during the eight years of his presidency "will have a different view of race relations in this country and what's possible," he said.

"There are going to be tensions that arise. But if you look at my daughters' generation, they have an attitude about race that's entirely different than even my generation."

Talking about how he was feeling after his recent successes, he said "every president, every leader has strengths and weaknesses".

"One of my strengths is I have a pretty even temperament. I don't get too high when it's high and I don't get too low when it's low," he said.