Standing next to the Vice President and four children who wrote to the White House urging him to act on gun control, President Obama asked Congress to pass a law requiring universal background checks on gun purchases, to ban military style assault weapons like the one used in the Aurora and Newtown shootings, to put a 10-round limit on gun magazines, and appoint a head to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, something that hasn't been done in six years. "I have no illusions as to what we're up against," the president said, referring to the gun lobby. "They want to generate fear or higher ratings or revenue for themselves, and behind the scenes they'll block any reform."
The president also signed 23 executive orders, which order federal agencies to make data available for a background check system, provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers, ensure an expansion of mental health treatment under the Affordable Care Act, and start campaigns designed to train educators to respond to school shootings and prevent gun violence.
NRA-friendly Democrats (such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid) have signaled resistance to passing an assault weapons ban, but sources tell the Post that the Obama administration may use compromises like opening up more federal land to hunting to help sell gun control measures.
President Obama pointed to Ronald Reagan's support for an assault weapons ban in 1994, and noted that "more than 70% of the NRA's members" [PDF] believe that background checks should be mandatory on all gun purchases (currently, around 40% of gun purchases don't require them).
"These are common sense reforms that a majority of the American people support" the president said, "But that doesn't mean any of this will be easy to enact."
You can read more on what the president asked of Congress, and the specifics of his executive orders here.
