(MCT) — MINNEAPOLIS — With police officers and troopers in uniform gathered behind him, President Barack Obama on Monday pitched his proposals to curtail gun violence with an appeal for “common sense” and bipartisanship, even as he downplayed the prospects for key parts of his plan.

Speaking to law enforcement officials at a Minneapolis police facility, Obama said he saw a consensus emerging in Congress to require background checks of all gun buyers, one of three core proposals in the plan he announced after the shootings at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., School in December.