“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.