The gun lobby is "ginning up" fears the federal government will use the Newtown shooting tragedy, exactly one month ago, to seize Americans' guns, President Barack Obama said Monday.

At least part of the frenzy is little more than marketing, he implied.

"It's certainly good for business," the president said, responding to a question about a spike in weapons sales and applications for background checks after the massacre at Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School left 27 people dead, 20 of them children.

"Part of the challenge we confront is that even the slightest hint of some sensible, responsible legislation in this area fans this notion that somehow, 'Here it comes, everybody's guns are going to be taken away,'" Obama said.

This week, the president is reviewing recommendations from a task force led by Vice President Joe Biden looking into ways to curb gun violence. Obama set up the group after December's carnage in Newtown and demanded reform ideas by this month.

Obama said he expects to have a fuller presentation later in the week "to give people some specifics about what I think we need to do," he told reporters Monday.

While the final recommendations have not been made public, Biden has said he's found widespread support for universal background checks and restrictions on the sale of high capacity magazines, which gun-control advocates believe contribute to more bloodshed at mass shootings.

Obama said he backs such measures as well as renewing the Clinton-era assault weapons ban that expired in 2004.

Passing any legislation may not be easy: The influential National Rifle Association, among other gun rights groups, has vowed to fight any new gun restrictions -- like an assault weapon ban, which the group's president David Keene predicted Sunday wouldn't make it through Congress -- tooth and nail.

Yet, as he weighs options, Obama said politics isn't his first concern.

"My starting point is to focus on what makes sense, what works, what should we be doing to make sure our children are safe," he told reporters. "I think we can do that in a sensible way that comports with the Second Amendment."

'This is about the safety of the public'

Gun control advocates, gun violence victims, the NRA, video game makers and others have met with the Biden-led task force, with their conversations ranging from the capacity of ammunition magazines to portrayals of violence in the media.

The vice president met Monday with congressional Democrats, talks that are "part of a larger outreach effort that will involve other members of Congress," a source familiar with the meeting told CNN.

In addition to new gun restrictions, the package proposed by Obama may include mental health provisions that could garner wider support. Some initiatives -- like how the government tracks how weapons fall into criminals' hands -- could be accomplished by executive order, Obama said.

Yet other measures would require approval of a Congress that, on many issues, has been hard-pressed to get anything accomplished -- even though the momentum to act in some way, be it by clamping down on guns or putting armed guards in schools, as the NRA has proposed -- is undeniable.

Mark Kelly, a former Navy pilot and astronaut whose wife, then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, survived a 2011 mass shooting that left six dead, said he and his wife both own guns and support the Second Amendment. Yet the couple is adamant that more must be done to curb gun violence, touting measures like banning high-capacity magazines and having universal background checks, which Kelly said a vast majority of the NRA's 4.2 million members support.

"This isn't really about the Second Amendment," said Kelly, who has formed a political action committee intent on pursuing reforms. "This is about gun safety, and it's about the safety of the public."

The retired Navy captain told CNN he believes the debate can produce "common sense solutions to this very serious problem."

People around the country are demanding nothing less in the wake of the Newtown shooting, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. He said Monday that more than 1 million people have signed a petition backed by his group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

"For many Americans, this is the straw that broke the camel's back," he said about the Connecticut school carnage.

Polling appears to support the contention.

Poll shows public dissatisfied with gun laws

A new Gallup poll released Monday shows 38% of Americans are dissatisfied with current gun laws and support stricter proposals. That is a 13 percentage point jump from a year ago.

The shift is most marked among men. The poll revealed a 17 percent increase in support for stricter gun control laws among men, compared to 10 percentage points for women. That may be because polling has shown women already tend to be more supportive of gun control legislation.