Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images. 
 
 The second Joe Biden suggested that the White House might enact "executive actions, executive orders" on guns, the gun lobby smashed the glass and hit the alarm. The Drudge Report illustrated Biden's quote with portraits of Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler, who (among arguably worse things) restricted gun rights. There were surprisingly few questions from Republicans about what the executive actions might actually be. 
 
 
 
 David Weigel David Weigel is a reporter for the Washington Post. 
 
 Here's the list, via the White House. (I did not engage in complication reporter-fu to get this. It's the general fact sheet.) 
 
 
 
 1. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system. 
 
 2. Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system. 
 
 3. Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system. 
 
 4. Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks. 
 
 5. Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun. 
 
 6. Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers. 
 
 7. Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign. 
 
 8. Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission). 
 
 9. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations. 
 
 10. Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement. 
 
 11. Nominate an ATF director. 
 
 12. Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations. 
 
 13. Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime. 
 
 14. Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence. 
 
 
 
 15. Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies 
 
 
 
 16. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes. 
 
 17. Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities. 
 
 18. Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers. 
 
 19. Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education. 
 
 20. Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover. 
 
 21. Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges. 
 
 22. Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations. 
 
 23. Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health. 
 
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 And these are the legislative ideas -- i.e., the ones the president wants to push through Congress, starting with the more pliable Senate. 
 
 Require criminal background checks for all gun sales. (a.k.a. closing the "gun show loophole.") 
 
 Reinstate and strengthen the assault weapons ban. 
 
 Restore the 10-round limit on ammunition magazines. 
 
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 Protect police by finishing the job of getting rid of armor-piercing bullets. 
 
 Give law enforcement additional tools to prevent and prosecute gun crime. 
 
 End the freeze on gun violence research. 
 
 Make our schools safer with more school resource officers and school counselors, safer climates, and better emergency response plans. 
 
 Help ensure that young people get the mental health treatment they need. ||||| President Barack Obama on Wednesday launched the most sweeping effort to curb U.S. gun violence in nearly two decades, announcing a $500 million package that sets up a fight with Congress over bans on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines just a month after a shooting in Connecticut killed 20 school children. 
 
 President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, left, hugs eight-year-old letter writer Grant Fritz during a news conference on proposals to reduce gun violence, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013,... (Associated Press) 
 
 President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, talks about proposals to reduce gun violence, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, in the South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington.... (Associated Press) 
 
 President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, law enforcement officials, lawmakers and children who wrote the president about gun violence following last month's shooting at an elementary... (Associated Press) 
 
 President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, and children who wrote the president about gun violence following last month's shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., signs... (Associated Press) 
 
 President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, talks about proposals to reduce gun violence, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, in the South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington.... (Associated Press) 
 
 President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, gestures as he talks about proposals to reduce gun violence, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, in the South Court Auditorium at the White House... (Associated Press) 
 
 President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, left, gets a high-five from eight-year-old letter writer Grant Fritz during a news conference on proposals to reduce gun violence, Wednesday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this photo made with a fisheye lens on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013, five used military style rifles are all that is available in the rack that usually has over twenty new models for sale at Duke's Sport... (Associated Press) 
 
 President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, law enforcement officials, lawmakers and children who wrote the president about gun violence following last month's shooting at an elementary... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In a Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013 file photo, gun owners discuss a potential sale of an AR-15, during the 2013 Rocky Mountain Gun Show at the South Towne Expo Center in Sandy, Utah. Nearly six in 10... (Associated Press) 
 
 New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders applaud after Cuomo signed New York's Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act into law during a ceremony in the Red Room at the Capitol on Tuesday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Jimmy Greene, left, kisses his wife Nelba Marquez-Greene as he holds a portrait of their daughter, Sandy Hook School shooting victim Ana Marquez-Greene at a news conference at Edmond Town Hall in Newtown,... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this photo made with a fisheye lens, customers line up at the gun counter at Duke's Sport Shop on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013, in New Castle, Pa. President Barack Obama is expected to announce measures... (Associated Press) 
 
 From left to right: Hinna Zeejah, 8, Taejah Goode, 10, Julia Stokes, 11, and Grant Fritz, 8, who wrote letters to President Barack Obama about the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., watch as Obama signs... (Associated Press) 
 
 Obama signed 23 executive actions, which require no congressional approval. But the president, speaking at the White House, acknowledged the most sweeping, effective actions must be taken by lawmakers. 
 
 "To make a real and lasting difference, Congress must act," Obama said. "And Congress must act soon." He added, "I'll put everything that I've got into this." 
 
 The president appealed to the nation's conscience, but his announcement promises to lead to a bitter fight with a powerful pro-gun lobby that has long warned supporters that Obama wanted to take away their guns. 
 
 The U.S. has the highest rate of gun ownership of any country in the world, and pro-gun groups see any move on gun restrictions as an offense against the right guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Critics counter that the country's founding fathers never could have foreseen assault weapons more than two centuries ago, when guns were intended for the common, not individual, defense, guns were often stored in community areas and rifles fired one laborious shot at a time. 
 
 "This is the land of the free and the home of the brave, and always will be," Obama said, acknowledging the right to possess and bear firearms. "But we've also long realized ... that with rights come responsibilities." 
 
 Obama was joined by children who wrote him letters about gun violence in the weeks following the Connecticut shooting. Families of the children killed in the shooting, as well as survivors, were also in the audience. 
 
 Emotions have been high since the Connecticut shooting, which Obama has called the worst day of his presidency. He largely ignored the issue of gun violence during his first term but appears willing to stake his second term on it now. He'll have to contend with looming fiscal issues that have threatened to push whatever he proposes aside, at least for a while. 
 
 Gun control advocates also worry that opposition from the powerful National Rifle Association and its allies in Congress will be too great to overcome. 
 
 "Attacking firearms and ignoring children is not a solution to the crisis we face as a nation," the NRA said in a statement after Obama's announcement. "Only honest, law-abiding gun owners will be affected and our children will remain vulnerable to the inevitability of more tragedy." 
 
 The NRA also released an online video Tuesday that called Obama an "elitist hypocrite" for having armed Secret Service agents protect his daughters at school while not committing to installing armed guards in all schools. The NRA insists that the best way to prevent more mass shootings is to give more "good guys" guns. 
 
 The White House called the NRA video "repugnant and cowardly." 
 
 Obama's proposals are aimed at gun violence in general, not just mass shootings. He said more than 900 Americans have been killed by guns in the month since the Connecticut shooting. 
 
 "Every day we wait, the number will keep growing," he said. 
 
 The public appears receptive to stronger federal action on guns. Nearly six in 10 Americans want stricter gun laws in the aftermath of the Connecticut shooting, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. Three-quarters of Americans said they reacted to the Connecticut shooting with deep anger, while 54 percent said they felt deeply ashamed it could happen in the United States. 
 
 The poll also shows 51 percent said they believed laws limiting gun ownership infringe on the public's right to bear firearms. 
 
 White House officials, seeking to avoid setting the president up for failure, have emphasized that no single measure _ even an assault weapons ban _ would solve the scourge of gun violence. But without such a ban, or other sweeping Congress-approved measures, it's unclear whether executive actions alone can make any noticeable difference. 
 
 The office of the most powerful Republican in Congress, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, signaled no urgency to act on the proposals. "House committees of jurisdiction will review these recommendations," Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said. "And if the Senate passes a bill, we will also take a look at that." 
 
 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a fellow Democrat, called Obama's package "thoughtful recommendations" and said the Senate would consider legislation addressing gun violence early this year. 
 
 The president asked Congress to renew the ban on high-grade, military-style assault weapons that was first signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994 but expired in 2004. Obama also called for limiting ammunition magazines to 10 rounds or fewer, and he proposed a federal statute to stop purchases of guns by buyers who are acting for others. 
 
 The president also called for a focus on universal background checks. Some 40 percent of gun sales take place without background checks, including those by private sellers at gun shows or over the Internet, according to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. 
 
 The president's framework is based on recommendations from Vice President Joe Biden, who led a wide-ranging task force on gun violence. Beyond the gun control measures, Biden also gave Obama suggestions for improving mental health care and addressing violent images in video games, movies and television. 
 
 The president also called for improvements in school safety, including putting 1,000 police officers in schools. 
 
 States and cities have been moving against gun violence as well. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday signed into law the toughest gun control law in the U.S., and the first since the Connecticut shooting. The law includes a tougher assault-weapons ban and provisions to try to keep guns out of the hands of mentally ill people who make threats. 
 
 The NRA criticized the bill, saying in a statement, "These gun control schemes have failed in the past and will have no impact on public safety and crime." 
 
 In Washington, it's unclear how much political capital Obama will use in pressing for congressional action. 
 
 The White House and Congress will soon be consumed by three looming fiscal deadlines, each of which is expected to be contentious. And the top Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, has warned the White House that it will be at least three months before the chamber considers gun legislation. 
 
 Congress, in any case, can move slowly. The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Wednesday he'll begin hearings in two weeks on gun safety proposals. Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, a gun owner, said he envisions a series of hearings examining violence in popular media and how to keep guns safe, among other topics. 
 
 Leahy's plan could take more time than Obama has urged. 
 
 Obama's long list of executive orders includes the following: 
 
 _ Ordering tougher penalties for people who lie on background checks and requiring federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system. 
 
 _ Ending limits that make it more difficult for the government to research gun violence, such as gathering data on guns that fall into criminal hands. 
 
 _ Requiring federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations. 
 
 _ Giving schools flexibility to use federal grant money to improve school safety, such as by hiring school resource officers. 
 
 _ Giving communities grants to institute programs to keep guns away from people who shouldn't have them. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Julie Pace, Erica Werner, Ken Ritter, Josh Lederman Michael Gormley and Michael Virtanen contributed to this report. ||||| Photo 
 
 WASHINGTON — President Obama this week will embrace a comprehensive plan to reduce gun violence that will call for major legislation to expand background checks for gun purchases and lay out 19 separate actions the president could take by invoking the power of his office, lawmakers who were briefed on the plan said Monday. 
 
 Lawmakers and other officials said that the president could use a public event as soon as Wednesday to signal his intention to engage in the biggest Congressional fight over guns in nearly two decades, focusing on the heightened background checks and including efforts to ban assault weapons and their high-capacity clips. But given the difficulty of pushing new rules through a bitterly divided Congress, Mr. Obama will also promise to act on his own to reduce gun violence wherever possible. 
 
 Actions the president could take on his own are likely to include imposing new limits on guns imported from overseas, compelling federal agencies to improve sharing of mental health records and directing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct research on gun violence, according to those briefed on the effort. 
 
 White House aides believe Mr. Obama can also ratchet up enforcement of existing laws, including tougher prosecution of people who lie on their background checks. 
 
 At a news conference on Monday, exactly one month after the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., Mr. Obama said a task force led by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. had “presented me now with a list of sensible, common-sense steps that can be taken to make sure that the kinds of violence we saw at Newtown doesn’t happen again. He added: “My starting point is not to worry about the politics. My starting point is to focus on what makes sense, what works.” 
 
 The administration’s strategy reflects the uncertainty of gun politics in America and the desire by White House officials to address the Connecticut shooting while also confronting the broader deficiencies in the country’s criminal justice and mental health systems. 
 
 By proposing to use the independent power of his office, Mr. Obama is inviting political attacks by gun owners who have already expressed fear that he will abuse that authority to restrict their rights. Representative Steve Stockman, Republican of Texas, threatened Monday to file articles of impeachment if the president seeks to regulate guns with executive orders. “I will seek to thwart this action by any means necessary,” Mr. Stockman said in a statement. 
 
 White House officials and Democratic lawmakers said that there are clear limits to what the president can and cannot do, and that Mr. Obama has no plans to push beyond what he would need Congressional authority to accomplish. 
 
 On Capitol Hill, Mr. Obama’s legislative effort will face intense opposition from gun rights groups, including the National Rifle Association, and the lawmakers they support with millions of dollars at election time and who see gun rights as a defining issue in their districts. But Mr. Obama’s allies see a rare opening for tighter gun rules after Congress has shied away from the politically charged issue for years. 
 
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 “He’s putting together a pretty comprehensive list of what could be done to make a difference in this area,” said Representative Mike Thompson of California, who is heading a Democratic task force in the House. “There’s some huge, huge holes in the process that are set up to keep communities safe. We need to close those holes.” 
 
 Representative Jackie Speier, Democrat of California, said Vice President Biden had informed lawmakers during a two-hour briefing on Monday that there are “19 independent steps that the president can take by executive order.” Ms. Speier said the executive action is part of the “most comprehensive gun safety effort in a generation.” 
 
 Rahm Emanuel, the mayor of Chicago and Mr. Obama’s former chief of staff, joined the debate on Monday and said that the president should “clear the table” by doing whatever he can administratively so small issues do not get in the way of the bigger legislative fights over access to guns. 
 
 “Don’t allow a side issue to derail these things,” Mr. Emanuel said during a discussion about gun policy. While many gun control advocates are eager to harness what they believe is a ripe moment in American life for new and robust restrictions on the kinds of guns that were used in Newtown, there is an emerging consensus on Capitol Hill and among gun education groups that improving the system of background check legislation that currently exempts private gun sales and gun shows is the most viable legislative route to pursue. 
 
 “The assault-weapons ban is a low priority relative to the other measures the Biden task force is considering,” Matt Bennett, a spokesman for Third Way, a left-leaning research group, said after hearing from Mr. Biden last week. “Political capital in the gun debate only goes so far. We think it should be spent on things that would have the greatest impact on gun violence, like universal background checks and cracking down on gun trafficking.” 
 
 Any efforts to get gun legislation through Congress will require an enormous and ceaseless pressure campaign by the administration. Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden are likely to keep up the pressure on lawmakers with public events in the weeks and months ahead, according to those familiar with the White House strategy. 
 
 Scores of senators, including many Democrats, will be wary of voting on any effort to curb access to guns or ammunition. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, is a longtime supporter of gun rights. Still, gun legislation is likely to begin in the Senate because the House is controlled by Republicans, many of whom oppose new restrictions on guns. 
 
 With fiscal issues continuing to dominate the political calendar for the next several weeks, White House officials and lawmakers say the gun safety effort is likely to be debated in separate pieces of legislation that could be introduced over time. In coming weeks, Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, will reintroduce a measure that would require every gun buyer, with limited exceptions, to undergo a background check and would force states to feed all relevant data into the background check system so those with criminal convictions and the mentally ill could be flagged. ||||| CLOSE Vice President Joe Biden says he will deliver recommendations to the president on steps to curb violence by Tuesday. Biden says a consensus is emerging over proposals such as tightening background checks and banning high-capacity magazines. (Jan 10) AP 
 
 Vice President Biden speaks during a meeting with victims groups and gun-safety organizations on Wednesday in Washington. Attorney General Eric Holder is at left. (Photo: Susan Walsh, AP) Story Highlights Vice president says he's considering several recommendations from stakeholders 
 
 Universal background checks and limiting high-capacity magazines considered 
 
 Biden says he wants to also meet with gun manufacturers 
 
 WASHINGTON — The National Rifle Association took aim Thursday at the White House task force on gun violence led by Vice President Biden, suggesting that the Obama administration is focused on imposing unnecessary restrictions on lawful gun owners in the aftermath of last month's shooting tragedy in Connecticut. 
 
 The powerful gun rights organization's sharp rebuke followed a meeting with Biden and gun-owners groups to discuss the White House's response to recent mass shootings. The vice president and other top administration officials have been meeting with various stakeholders in the gun debate in an effort to generate a broad proposal on steps to curb gun violence. 
 
 "We were disappointed with how little this meeting had to do with keeping our children safe and how much it had to do with an agenda to attack the Second Amendment," the NRA said in a statement following the 95-minute meeting on White House grounds. "While claiming that no policy proposals would be 'prejudged,' this task force spent most of its time on proposed restrictions on lawful firearms owners — honest, taxpaying, hardworking Americans." 
 
 Biden, who was tapped to lead the task force after the Dec. 14 mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, said he plans to deliver his recommendations to President Obama by Tuesday, and suggested Thursday that his proposal may include instituting universal background checks and limiting the size of high-capacity magazines. 
 
 Biden said that his proposal might also bolster the ability of the federal government to research gun violence, suggesting he may look for a way to relax rules that prohibit the release of information from the ATF firearms-trace database to anyone other than a law enforcement agency or prosecutor in connection with a criminal investigation 
 
 "There is a surprising, so far, recurrence of suggestions that we have universal background checks," Biden said. He added, "Among ... my former colleagues in the Senate, who have been pretty universally opposed to any restrictions on gun ownership or what type of weapons can be purchased, etc., I have never quite heard as much talk about the need to do something about high-capacity magazines as I have heard spontaneously from every group I have met with so far." 
 
 The vice president, notably, did not mention re-instituting the assault-weapons ban which expired in 2004, a move backed by several Democratic lawmakers and Obama. A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll published last month following the Connecticut shooting found 51% of respondents oppose an assault weapons ban, while 44% support reinstating the ban. 
 
 Biden, along with Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, were also meeting with entertainment industry executives Thursday, and a separately with some of the nation's top gun sellers, including the megaretailer Wal-Mart, to discuss the issue. 
 
 Biden has said that he may recommend Obama use presidential "executive order" power as part of the effort to stem gun violence. Gun-control advocates said that the president could take several steps without congressional action, including bolstering the national instant criminal-background-check system and stepping up prosecutions of felons and others prohibited from buying weapons when they try to purchase them. 
 
 Biden is also hoping to solicit the input of gun manufacturers before making his recommendations. 
 
 "There has got to be some common ground, to not solve every problem but diminish the probability" of mass shootings, he said. "That's what this is all about. There are no conclusions I have reached." 
 
 The NRA had set low expectations for the meeting, but the sharpness of its rebuke was notable. 
 
 "We will now take our commitment and meaningful contributions to members of Congress of both parties who are interested in having an honest conversation about what works — and what does not," the group said. 
 
 The NRA instead is pushing for the federal government to implement a program to put armed guards in every school in the country. 
 
 The Advancement Project, a Washington, D.C.-based civil rights group, has long complained that cops in schools actually make safety worse for many kids, making it more likely that they'll end up in trouble with the law. 
 
 Contributing: Greg Toppo 
 
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– So just what are the 23 executive orders President Obama signed today as part of his plan to curb gun violence? Dave Weigel at Slate runs them down, and here's a sampling from him and AP: "Require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system." Order "tougher penalties for people who lie on background checks." Have the attorney general "review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks." Direct the Centers for Disease Control "to research the causes and prevention of gun violence." (This one is getting a lot of attention. See here.) Nominate an ATF director. "Require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations." Give "schools flexibility to use federal grant money to improve school safety, such as by hiring school resource officers." Read Weigel's full list here. Or see details on each from the White House itself here. These are separate from the list of proposed laws Obama hopes to push through Congress starting next week—reinstating the ban on assault weapons, limiting high-capacity ammunition magazines, closing loopholes on gun sales, and more, reports the New York Times.