Point Blank

“The gun lobby may be holding Congress hostage right now but they can’t hold America hostage. We do not have to accept that carnage is the price of freedom.” During a lengthy and sometimes emotional talk, President Obama announced plans to go around Congress with executive actions aimed at closing background-check loopholes and adding restrictions to many businesses that sell weapons online and at gun shows. The moves are relatively modest, but they might make gun control a more prominent issue in the 2016 election.

+ Vox has the details of Obama’s proposals.

+ “Consistently, at least 70 percent of Americans said they favor background checks. Often, far more do. In October, a CBS News/New York Times poll found that 92 percent of Americans — including 87 percent of Republicans — favor background checks for all gun buyers.” As FiveThirtyEight points out, the idea of expanding background checks is not a contentious topic among the voting public.