Gun control advocates in Congress quickly cited the Virginia Tech shootings as evidence of the need for tighter firearm restrictions.

“I believe this will reignite the dormant effort to pass common-sense gun regulations in this nation,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Monday. The California Democrat has led efforts to renew the expired ban on so-called assault weapons (PL 103-322).

The Democratic takeover of Congress ended years of victories for the National Rifle Association (NRA), including blocking renewal of the assault weapons ban and enactment of a law in 2005 that protects gun manufacturers and sellers from liability lawsuits.

So far, Democratic leaders have shown little enthusiasm for taking up tighter gun control legislation that would likely attract scant support from Democratic lawmakers in rural and Republican-leaning districts.

Even Congress’ leading gun control advocate, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., conceded that efforts to renew the assault weapons ban and limit high-capacity ammunition clips stood little chance of passage.

But on Monday, McCarthy and her staff were more optimistic.

“We’re going to be stepping it up in light of this,” said George Burke, a spokesman for McCarthy, whose husband was killed and son was severely wounded by a gunman on the Long Island Rail Road in 1993.

McCarthy introduced legislation in February (HR 1022) that would reauthorize the assault weapons ban.

“It has been more than a decade since meaningful legislation that would prevent gun violence has been signed into law,” McCarthy said in a statement Monday. “This pattern must change. For too long Congress has stood idle while gun violence continues to take its toll. The unfortunate situation in Virginia could have been avoided if Congressional leaders stood up to the gun lobby.”

Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said gun control legislation “could be” a possibility. “Let’s find out what the facts are,” Specter said.

Dana Perino, a White House spokeswoman, deflected questions about gun control Monday by saying the administration is focused on “enforcing all of the gun laws that we have on the books and making sure that they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

“If there are changes to the president’s policy, then we will let you know,” Perino said.

Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, said Monday that gun bans are the problem, not the solution. His group has called on Congress to repeal a law requiring gun-free school zones (PL 101-647), although the Supreme Court struck down that law in 1995.

“It is irresponsibly dangerous to tell citizens that they may not have guns at schools,” Pratt said in a statement. “The Virginia Tech shooting shows that killers have no concern about a gun ban when murder is in their hearts.”

The NRA called the killings a “horrible tragedy” but said it would not comment further “until all the facts are known.”

The killings of more than 30 people at Virginia Tech are likely to be a focus of a previously scheduled April 24 hearing by the House Homeland Security Committee on school protection issues. Dena Graziano, spokeswoman for the committee, confirmed that the panel would likely focus on, among other issues, the tragedy at the Blacksburg, Va., school, which has reawakened concerns about gun violence.

She said committee members will discuss “the need for preparedness, coordination and awareness” among federal, state and local first-responders.

Congress’ reaction to previous high-profile acts of gun violence has been mixed. The 1993 Brady law (PL 103-159), which set a waiting period of five business days for handgun purchases, was named for James S. Brady, the White House press secretary who was paralyzed more than a decade earlier in the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.

Congress did not enact any significant new gun laws in reaction to the shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999, although that event derailed efforts to move legislation in the 106th Congress that would have shielded gun manufacturers and dealers from being sued when third parties misuse their products. A similar bill returned in the 107th Congress, only to be shelved in 2002 — the same year as the D.C. sniper case.

In the 108th Congress, the House passed a version of the gun liability shield legislation by 285-140, but Senate Democrats succeeded in attaching three amendments opposed by the bill’s backers, including a renewal of the assault weapons ban (PL 103-322). Republicans, at the urging of the NRA, were forced to defeat their own bill.

Backers of the legislation finally succeeded in 2005, clearing legislation (PL 109-92) prohibiting civil liability actions in any state or federal court against manufacturers, distributors, dealers and importers of firearms and ammunition. Trade groups also are protected. The law also dismissed all pending actions.

Keith Perine, Patrick Yoest and Alan K. Ota contributed to this story.