The President meets survivors of the massacre and their families, while issuing yet another exasperated plea for gun control.

United States President, Barack Obama has visited Orlando to comfort the victims of Sunday’s mass shooting at a gay nightclub, which claimed 49 lives.

Not for the first time in his presidency, he provided solace to a grieving community and nation after a gun massacre.

Mr Obama was accompanied on the visit by Vice President Joe Biden to the central Florida city, where families of the 49 victims are laying their loved ones to rest.

Under rainy skies, Mr Obama and Mr Biden laid flowers for the victims at a makeshift memorial in downtown Orlando.

As in previous tragedies, Mr Obama met families of the victims, survivors and emergency workers who came to their aid.

He said afterwards: “The vice president and I told them, on behalf of the American people, that our hearts are broken, too, ” Obama said, adding  “our politics have conspired to make it as easy as possible for a terrorist or just a disturbed individual … to buy extraordinarily powerful weapons, and they can do so legally.”

“That’s not the meaning of liberty,” he added.

The visit took place amid a bitter political feud in Washington DC over gun control and terrorism in the aftermath of the deadliest mass shooting in US history.

Republican Senator John McCain said on Thursday Mr Obama was “directly responsible” for the Orlando attack because he said the President had failed to defeat the Islamic State group.

After a welter of criticism, Mr McCain said: “I misspoke. I did not mean to imply that the President was personally responsible.”

Meanwhile, Republican White House candidate Donald Trump has said he will discuss with the National Rifle Association “not allowing people on the terrorist watch list, or the no-fly list, to buy guns”.

In Congress, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy ended a filibuster after nearly 15 hours on Thursday, forcing a vote on gun control.

Senator Murphy and other Democrats are pushing for a similar measure to the one spoken of by Mr Trump.

Authorities say the attack was carried out with legally purchased weapons by a 29-year-old Muslim of Afghan origin.

Investigators say New York-born Omar Mateen had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.

CIA Director John Brennan told a Senate hearing on Thursday no direct link has been found between Mateen and foreign militants.