White House Plan On Guns To Include 19 Executive Actions, Lawmakers Say

By Mark Memmott

Published January 15, 2013 at 6:15 AM CST

At a gun shop in Phoenix, a customer holds a handgun. Among the executive actions President Obama is expected to propose is an expansion of background checks for gun buyers.

Update at 1:25 p.m. ET. Announcement on Wednesday:

The White House says President Obama and Vice President Biden will unveil the steps they intend to take and legislation they recommend to reduce gun violence at 11:45 a.m. ET on Wednesday.

Our original post:

The plan for reducing gun violence that the White House will release this week includes 19 steps that don't require legislative action by Congress, lawmakers who have been briefed on the administration's thinking tell The New York Times, Politico and other news outlets.

According to the Times, President Obama will "call for major legislation to expand background checks for gun purchases." But he will also, based on recommendations from a task force headed by Vice President Biden, "lay out 19 separate actions [he] could take by invoking the power of his office."

"Actions the president could take on his own," the Times adds, "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."

Politico says of the executive actions that they "could include giving the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention authority to conduct national research on guns, more aggressive enforcement of existing gun laws and pushing for wider sharing of existing gun databases among federal and state agencies, members of Congress in the meeting said."

Both news outlets are getting those details from Democratic members of Congress who were briefed about the plan by Biden on Monday. The official announcement could come as soon as Wednesday. The president asked Biden to come up with "concrete proposals" on reducing gun violence after the Dec. 14 mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., where 20 children and six educators were killed.

The Los Angeles Times reports that "the prospect of administrative action angered gun rights supporters. Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, threatened to file articles of impeachment if the White House pursued such a tack.