Obama unveils $500 million gun violence package

ASSOCIATED PRESS

President Barack Obama answered questions from members of the media during a news conference Monday in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Confronting a deeply divided Congress, President Barack Obama plans to skirt lawmakers and move forward on his own authority with steps to curb the nation's gun violence. But there's only so much he can do on his own. Obama will need Capitol Hill for fundamental changes.

WASHINGTON » Without waiting for Congress, President Barack Obama today announced a sweeping $500 million program to curb gun violence, setting up a fight over universal background checks and bans on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, in the wake of the Connecticut school shooting.

Obama also used his presidential powers to issue 23 orders that don't require congressional approval. The largely incremental executive steps include requiring federal agencies to make more data available for background checks, appointing a fulltime director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and directing the Centers for Disease Control to research gun violence.

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 following the Newtown 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 administration-wide task force led by Vice President Joe Biden.