Thank you, everybody. Please have a seat. Good afternoon, everybody.

Over the month since the tragedy in Newtown, we’ve heard from so many, and, obviously, none have affected us more than the families of those gorgeous...

Hinna, a third-grader -- you can go ahead and wave, Hinna. That’s you -- (laughter.) Hinna wrote, “I feel terrible for the parents who lost their...

And then, Julia said -- Julia, where are you? There you go -- “I’m not scared for my safety, I’m scared for others. I have four brothers and...

And that’s why, last month, I asked Joe to lead an effort, along with members of my Cabinet, to come up with some concrete steps we can take right...

So I’m putting forward a specific set of proposals based on the work of Joe’s task force. And in the days ahead, I intend to use whatever weight...

We will make it easier to keep guns out of the hands of criminals by strengthening the background check system. We will help schools hire more resource...

These are a few of the 23 executive actions that I’m announcing today. But as important as these steps are, they are in no way a substitute for action...

If you want to buy a gun -- whether it’s from a licensed dealer or a private seller -- you should at least have to show you are not a felon or somebody...

And that's what allowed the gunman in Aurora to shoot 70 people -- 70 people -- killing 12 in a matter of minutes. Weapons designed for the theater...

And finally, Congress needs to help, rather than hinder, law enforcement as it does its job. We should get tougher on people who buy guns with the...

Let me be absolutely clear. Like most Americans, I believe the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms. I respect our strong tradition...

And yet, that doesn’t mean any of this is going to be easy to enact or implement. If it were, we’d already have universal background checks. The...

The only way we will be able to change is if their audience, their constituents, their membership says this time must be different -- that this time,...

This will not happen unless the American people demand it. If parents and teachers, police officers and pastors, if hunters and sportsmen, if responsible...

Get them on record. Ask your member of Congress if they support universal background checks to keep guns out of the wrong hands. Ask them if they support...

The right to worship freely and safely, that right was denied to Sikhs in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. The right to assemble peaceably, that right was denied...

And so just before I left, Chris, her father, gave me one of her paintings, and I hung it in my private study just off the Oval Office. And every time...

(The executive orders are signed.) (Applause.)