President Obama today, in a televised press conference, called for a gun violence task force, a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and universal background checks for those buying guns. Obama is using 23 executive actions and various legislative proposals to enact this, potentially the most ambitious gun-control initiative in decades. The task force, led by Vice President Biden, will propose policies to curb gun violence by the end of January 2013. This comes in response to the Newtown elementary school massacre that claimed the lives of 20 children and six adults this past December.

Obama said, “Along with our freedom to live our lives as we will comes obligation to allow others to do the same […] I will put everything I’ve got into this, and so will Joe. But the only way we’ll change is if the American people demand it.”