President Obama presented his plan to help curb America’s rampant gun violence in a speech yesterday.  He signed 23 executive orders that he said would tighten current gun regulations and called for Congress to pass new legislation including a ban on assault-style weapons and extended magazines and, perhaps most importantly, mandatory background checks on all gun purchases.

I wrote a recap of the president’s proposals, which can be read over at CampusProgress.

I believe this is a large step in the right direction, but it is only the first step in a long uphill journey.  As the president said, it is up to the people of this country to keep the pressure on their elected officials to actually pass this legislation.  Campaigns like DemandAPlan, from the group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, have done a great job of spreading information and making it easy for people to contact their Senator and/or Representative to voice their support for the presidents plan.  I encourage everyone to do so.

Here is a video of the president’s for anyone who missed it: