"I think we’ve got a good chance of seeing it pass if members of Congress are listening to the American people," President Obama said in an interview on NBC's "Today Show" that aired on Tuesday. "The notion that Congress would defy the overwhelming instinct of the American people after what we saw happen in Newtown, I think, is unimaginable."



Obama was then asked by Savannah Guthrie how he could expect Democrats in red states to vote on this bill when he, as a Senator, didn't have to himself.



"I think that all of us had to reflect on what we did or didn't do after Newtown," Obama observed. "If the question is 'is this potentially difficult politically because the gun lobby is paying attention and has shown no willingness to budget?' Then the answer is yes, that's a given. Now, if the question is what's the right thing to do and what the American people believe in, overwhelmingly. If that's what's guiding members of Congress during the next couple of weeks, then this will pass."