Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat, and Senator Pat Toomey, a Republican, unveiled their plans in Washington DC.
The proposal would expand criminal background checks for buyers to include gun shows and online sales.
President Barack Obama has been calling for gun controls since a massacre at a school in Connecticut in December.
"Today is just the start of a healthy debate that must end with the Senate and House hopefully passing these common sense measures and the president signing them into law," Sen Manchin told reporters on Wednesday.'Not a cure-all'
He said Majority Leader Harry Reid had assured them their plan would be considered as the first amendment to a wider bill.
On Thursday, the Senate is planning to vote on whether to debate Democratic-led legislation that would expand background checks to virtually all gun sales, make gun-trafficking a felony, and boost funding for school safety.
The Manchin-Toomey plan is stricter than the current law - which requires checks only when guns are bought through a licensed dealer - but is viewed as less wide-ranging than congressional Democrats' proposals.
Sales among friends or family members would be exempt from the background-check requirement, under the two senators' proposal.
Sen Toomey, a conservative Republican from Pennsylvania, said he did not believe expanding background checks to block illegal buyers amounted to gun control.
"[Checks] are not a cure-all, but they can be helpful," the senator said, adding that 1.8 million firearms sales have been blocked by the current system.Michelle Obama in Chicago
Also in the agreement is a plan to establish a federal commission on mass violence that would seek the expertise of those in the fields of mental health, school safety, firearms and entertainment.
In a statement, the National Rifle Association said that more background checks "will not prevent the next shooting, will not solve violent crime and will not keep our kids safe in schools".
The Senate's Democratic leadership believes it now has enough Republican support to thwart a conservative attempt to stop their bill even being considered on the floor of the chamber.
The White House will continue its campaign on Wednesday as First Lady Michelle Obama visits a Chicago high school where 29 current or former students have been shot in the past year.
Relatives of those killed in the attack at Newtown, Connecticut, lobbied lawmakers on Tuesday. The family members were whisked to Washington by Mr Obama aboard Air Force One.
White House calls for a ban on assault weapons and limiting the capacity of magazines are not expected to go anywhere in Congress.
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