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Obama's latest actions appear to be the boldest, touching on one of the longest-running issues with federal gun control laws and a broader hot-button debate about what to do about America's extraordinary levels of gun violence. There are risks to Obama acting without congressional approval. Critics of the administration have already suggested that they will challenge new executive actions in court. Not getting legislation in the books also means that a President Ted Cruz (or Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, and so on) could unilaterally reverse Obama's actions. Shortly before the announcement of the plan, a congressional Republican also threatened to block funding for the Justice Department to stop the executive actions. The Obama administration has pushed on anyway, arguing in an email, "The president has made clear the most impactful way to address the crisis of gun violence in our country is for Congress to pass some common sense gun safety measures. But the president has also said he's fully aware of the unfortunate political realities in this Congress. That is why he has asked his team to scrub existing legal authorities to see if there's any additional action we can take administratively." Here's what the Obama administration plans to do: The federal government will issue guidance that will narrow who can sell guns without a federal license, based on an evaluation of the circumstances Surrounding individual gun sales. The idea is to make enforcement of existing federal laws stricter so fewer people - whether gun sellers or buyers - take advantage of the "gun show loophole." The FBI will hire more than 230 more people to help run background checks - an increase of more than 50 percent to the current staff. Lynch said this was in part needed to keep up with rising demand. "We're looking to improve the efficiency and response time of the system," she said. The government will also require background checks for people who try to buy restricted firearms through a legal entity, such as a corporation or trust. People were able to avoid background checks in the past through these entities.Gun Ownership, Barack Obama