The Republican-led US House of Representatives has blocked a Democratic bid to consider bipartisan gun control legislation in the wake of recent mass shootings in America.

The effort, backed by the Democrats, sought to ban suspected terrorists from legally purchasing guns but the House voted 242 to 173 to turn the motion aside.

The move followed recent mass shootings in California, where a married couple killed 14 people, and Colorado, where a man shot three people to death in a Planned Parenthood clinic.

House minority leader Nancy Pelosi has called the move shocking and disgraceful.

However, Democrats say public sentiment is turning in their favor on gun control.

Last week, Senate, lawmakers rejected expanding background checks for gun purchases just a day after the California killings.

An average of 87 deaths and 183 injuries are caused by gun violence across the country every day, according to Reuters.

Critics blame the liberal gun control laws for the high rate of shootings.

Earlier in October, a Financial Times report said gun sales in the United States had soared despite a call by President Barack Obama for tougher gun laws in the wake of another deadly shooting in Oregon.

“Once the public hears the president on the news say we need more gun controls, it tends to drive sales,” the Times quoted Larry Hyatt, owner of a gun shop in North Carolina as saying.

Obama blasted the Republican Congress for refusing to change the country’s gun laws in response to a string of mass shootings across the states.

Every year, more than 30,000 people are shot and killed in the United States.

About 4.5 million firearms are sold annually in the US at a cost of 2 to 3 billion dollars.