"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. “If you look at the combination of likelihood of passage and effectiveness of curbing gun crime,” he said, “universal background checks is at the sweet spot.” 
 
 Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Mr. Obama’s plan would require criminal background checks for all gun sales, closing the longstanding loophole that allows buyers to avoid screening by purchasing weapons from unlicensed sellers at gun shows or in private sales. Senator Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat and a longtime gun control supporter, made no mention of the assault weapons ban in a statement but pointed to the background checks. Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities. Make our schools safer with more school resource officers and school counselors, safer climates, and better emergency response plans.
– 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.