Obama Calls for Universal Background Checks, More School Cops—Your Thoughts?

President Obama announced Wednesday he will ask Congress to pass legislation requiring universal background checks for anyone attempting to buy a gun, restore a ban on military-style assault weapons, and limit magazines to seven bullets. 

What do you think of the president's proposals? Tell us in the comments section below.

Obama also said he will sign 23 executive orders to enhance background checks, give mental health professionals more options for reporting threats of violence, and providing additional funds to schools to hire 1,000 school resource officers.

He also called for training to help teachers identify the signs of mental illness, and research into any links between violent images in video games and media and in real life.

Repeatedly mentioning mass shootings in Newtown, Conn.; Clackamas, Ore.; and Aurora, Colo., Obama said significant enhancements in gun control will come only if people from all parts of the country—including current gun owners—support the changes.

"We have to examine ourselves and our hearts, and ask ourselves, what is important?" he said. "This will not happen unless the American people demand it.”

Locally, Senator Leland Yee (D-San Mateo) has commended both President Obama and Vice President Biden "for their swift action and common sense measures to reduce gun violence."

"As the President said, it is our first task as a society and our top responsibility as a nation to care for our children and to keep them safe," Yee said. "In California, we are prepared to do that by strengthening our state laws and eliminating loopholes in our assault weapon ban."

Yee’s SB 47 will prohibit the use of the bullet button and other devices that allow for easily changeable magazines on all military-style assault weapons, such as AR-15s. Under SB 47, featured weapons would only be allowed to have low capacity (10-round) ammunition magazines that could not be changed without dissembling the weapon.

Essentially, bullets could only be loaded one-by-one from the top of the gun.

More details on Obama's proposals can be found in the attached PDF or on a new White House website dedicated to the topic.