Obama unveils presidential plan to cut gun violence

These actions do not relieve Congress of the obligation to act to close the risky gaps in the nation’s gun laws that allow individuals prohibited from gun possession to have easy access to guns, but they are a meaningful step forward on this issue.

Obama, speaking to reporters before the measures were made public, said they were consistent with the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment, which protects the right to bear arms.

Obama emphasized that he was not setting the the country down a path of taking away guns from the populace.

Obama will hire more personnel to process background checks in a timely manner, direct officials to conduct more gun research, improve the information in the background check system, encourage more domestic violence prosecutions and order better tracking of lost guns.

Obama’s package of executive actions aims to curb what he’s described as a scourge of gun violence in the USA, punctuated by appalling mass shootings in Newtown, Connecticut; Charleston, South Carolina; and Tucson, Arizona, among many others.

The more the Obama administration acts as though the guidance has created a new legal requirement, the more legal trouble it might invite, said Lisa Heinzerling, administrative law professor at Georgetown University. Eyewitness News anchor Liz Foster spoke to the organizer of the upcoming event by phone who said nothing will change at the gun show this weekend.

Obama wiped tears away as he recalled the 20 first-graders killed in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

“First graders. And from every family who never imagined that their loved one would be taken from our lives by a bullet from a gun”.

The slate of actions announced by President Obama will have a substantial impact on improving enforcement of existing gun laws, expanding background checks to include more high-volume sellers of guns, improving the operation and effectiveness of the background check system, and encouraging innovation and development of smart gun technology.

All gun sellers, the president said, will be required to conduct background checks and have a license to sell firearms.

About a third of Americans live in a household where at least one person owns a gun.

Polls have shown most Americans back tougher gun laws.

The reverse is true in urban areas, where majorities want more thorough firearm regulations.

Stymied by Congress’ inaction on gun control, the president asked his advisers in recent months to examine new ways he could use his executive authority to tighten gun rules unilaterally after multiple mass shootings generated outrage nationwide.

“Each time this comes up, we are fed the excuse that common-sense reforms like background checks might not have stopped the last massacre, or the one before that, or the one before that, so why bother trying“, Obama said. “The fact of the matter is, every gun related death is preventable”, he said. “We maybe can’t save everybody, but we could save some“. After Newtown, Obama sought far-reaching, bipartisan legislation that went beyond background checks. “And by the way, it happens on the streets of Chicago every day”, said the USA president as he paused for a moment to control his emotions.