• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Any potential gun control legislation must be tailored for each state and not be a one-size-fits-all approach, but include certain conditions, U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson said Tuesday.
• "We in South Dakota have far fewer problems with guns than they do in New York or New Jersey and it makes common sense to not have one size fits all," Johnson told a group of reporters gathered at his office in Sioux Falls for a news conference.
• Johnson, a Democrat who considers himself a hunter, said any bill introduced should be comprehensive and include measures on gun control, mental health, background checks and more.
• Johnson said he is awaiting a set of 19 executive proposals to be released by President Barack Obama on Wednesday. The proposals will come a little over a month since the massacre of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
• "I believe in the Second Amendment, and I'm a hunter, myself, but I think something should be done, but what, I don't know," Johnson said.
• The shooting in Newtown has helped spark a national debate on gun control, which in turn has been cited as the reason behind a national surge in gun sales and concealed weapons permits.
• South Dakota's secretary of state said Tuesday that more than 3,000 concealed pistol permits were requested in the first 11 days of 2013, far outpacing 2012's tally of about 18,000.
• Johnson said any legislation in Congress about gun control should be second to discussions about the debt ceiling, which must be raised by February or the government could run out of cash to pay all its bills in full.
• "The debt ceiling comes first. After all, the debt ceiling came up the first of January and we're living on borrowed time," he said.

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