By: Sarah JonesJan. 16th, 2013more from Sarah Jones

The President’s bold and sweeping Plan to protect our children and our communities by reducing gun violence includes:

1. Closing background check loopholes to keep guns out of dangerous hands;
2. Banning military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and taking other common-sense steps to reduce gun violence;
3. Making schools safer
4. Increasing access to mental health services.

Read the full plan here

President Obama’s 23 executive actions (executive orders and directives and memos which are not all actually executive orders, but are being referred to that way in the media):

Today, the President is announcing that he and the Administration will:

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.

If Republicans are really planning on trying to impeach Obama over this list, they are smoking crack. Sadly, this may not be too far off the mark. If they keep up the talk of impeachment they will force us to remind them of Bush’s abuse of signing statements and executive orders.

These are not all executive orders. There are directives, memos and executive orders in this list. Obama has correctly not attempted to use the executive order past its legal limit regarding creating a new law. That part needs to be addressed by Congress (ha ha). The American people can do their part by contacting their representatives and demanding common sense gun safety laws as their right.

Elections have consequences, and one of them is that the person chosen by the American public as president has the power and authority to issue executive orders. In this case, President Obama is taking action to protect the people, and ensure their liberty is protected.