Gun ViolencePresident Barack Obama urges lawmakers to come up with proposals that would stop gun violence from happening. This would set up an intense debate over the Second Amendment and gun rights in the coming year.

President Obama appointed Vice President Joe Biden to head the effort of finding ways to reduce gun violence that continues to plague the nation. The president made the announcement five days after a gunman killed 26 people at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.

The vice president will meet up with Cabinet members as well as outside groups before delivering proposals the proposals no later than January. President Obama said that he would push any proposal that Biden comes up without delay. The president endorsed the new congressional efforts to revive the ban on assault weapons as well as the new restrictions on high volume ammunition magazines.

Gun rights advocates have questioned the effectiveness of any gun control legislation. They say most proposals violate their Second Amendment rights to bear arms. President Obama said that he believes in the Second Amendment but he is confident that most of the advocates would support the legislation after the shooting in Newtown. The president bets that most of the law-abiding gun owners would be the first to say that criminals must not be able to buy a weapon of war.

President Obama said that members of the National Rifle Association are parents who were affected by the deadly shooting in Newtown. The NRA and gun rights advocates have remained silent after the Newtown shooting. The association declined to comment on the president’s latest action but it scheduled a news conference for Friday.

The NRA released a statement Tuesday that said it was prepared to provide contributions to make sure that shootings would not happen again. This could lead to a change in its policy towards gun control. One of the changes would be requiring background checks on potential gun buyers.