On Tuesday, President Obama addressed the nation in order to outline steps to curb gun violence. With tears streaming down his face, Obama stood beside the relatives of mass shooting victims, saying, “In this room right here, there are a lot of stories. There’s a lot of heartache.” The speech was both moving and informative as Obama laid out his planned executive actions.

Many of these plans are merely suggestions for federal agencies. Contrary to the cries of Republican gun advocates, Obama’s plan represents a gentle course of action unlikely to affect the average American gun owner. The plan intends to identify who can and cannot be qualified as a licensed gun dealer and, therefore, who must be required to perform background checks on buyers.

The question now is whether these measures will have lasting effects. Loretta Lynch, Attorney General, questioned whether restrictions would have succeeded in preventing the recent San Bernardino shooting. But it seems evident that these regulations could have prevented the South Carolina shooting in June. In that case, the man charged purchased a .45 caliber handgun in spite of his admitted drug use. Background checks could have prevented this tragedy.

In response to concerns that the effect will be minimal, Obama said in his speech, “We are fed the excuse that common-sense reforms like background checks might not have stopped the most recent massacre, or the one before that, so why bother trying . . . We know we can’t stop every act of violence, every act of evil in the world. But maybe we could try to stop one act of evil, one act of violence.”

But the reason why truly effective measures have been impossible is the political difficulty. The power of the gun lobby in this nation is incredible. Because of this, gun control advocates can only dream of assault weapon bans, mandatory gun buyback programs, or other more aggressive legislation.

The Republican response to Obama’s speech is typical. On Senator Ted Cruz’s web page, a picture read that, “Obama wants your guns.” Even Speaker Paul Ryan tweeted that Obama’s “words and actions amount to a form of intimidation that undermines liberty.” Despite these impassioned outcries, even gun owners can be comforted by the facts. Nowhere in Obama’s plan is there a proposal to take guns from law abiding citizens. The proposal is moderate, and far from being too aggressive, the real question is whether it will be enough.

Lichtblau, Eric. “Tearful Obama Outlines Steps to Curb Gun Deaths.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 05 Jan. 2016. Web. 07 Jan. 2016.