Obama unveils $500 million gun-violence package

President Barack Obama answers questions in the East Room of the White House in Washington in this Jan. 14, 2103, file photo.

President Barack Obama answers questions in the East Room of the White House in Washington in this Jan. 14, 2103, file photo.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

— President Barack Obama is announcing a $500 million package of executive actions and legislative proposals aimed at reducing gun violence a month after a mass shooting in Connecticut killed 20 elementary school children.

The package includes a call on Congress to ban military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and it would shore up the gun sale background-check system.

Obama also is signing 23 executive actions, which require no congressional approval, including several aimed at improving access to data for background checks. A presidential memorandum will instruct the Centers for Disease Control to research causes and prevention of gun violence.

Obama is asking Congress to expand background checks on gun buyers to include private sales and is using his executive authority to increase the information available in data banks in the background check system. The White House says nearly 40 percent of gun sales are conducted by private individuals now exempt from checking the backgrounds of buyers.

He also ordered a review of standards for gun locks and a tracing of guns recovered in criminal investigations.

Obama is also ordering federal agencies to make “relevant data” available to the federal background check system and to remove barriers that might prevent states from providing information, particularly mental-health data, for background checks.

But the president, speaking at the White House, acknowledged the most effective actions must be taken by lawmakers.

“To make a real and lasting difference, Congress must act,” Obama said. “And Congress must act soon.”

Obama was flanked by children who wrote him letters about gun violence in the weeks after the Newtown, Conn., shooting. Families of the 20 children killed in the massacre, as well as survivors, were also in the audience along with law enforcement officers and members of Congress.

“This is our first task as a society, keeping our children safe,” Obama said. “This is how we will be judged.”

The president based his proposals on recommendations from an administrationwide task force led by Vice President Joe Biden.

Below are the administration's proposals for curbing gun violence.

NEEDS CONGRESSIONAL ACTION:

EXECUTIVE ORDER:

Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

Information for this article was contributed by Bloomberg News.