President Barack Obama defended his administration’s plans to tighten the nation’s gun-control restrictions without going through Congress, insisting Monday that the steps he’ll announce fall within his legal authority and uphold the constitutional right to own a gun.

Flanked by his attorney general and the head of the FBI, Obama offered few details about the list of recommendations he’s received and will come out with over the next few days. Behind the scenes, though, Obama’s administration has been preparing an effort to expand background checks on gun sales by forcing more sellers to register as federally licensed gun dealers.

“This is not going to solve every violent crime in this country,” Obama said, setting expectations for what he can do on his own. “It’s not going to prevent every mass shooting; it’s not going to keep every gun out of the hands of a criminal. It will potentially save lives and spare families the pain of these extraordinary losses.”

More than three years after the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, with many other mass shootings since, Obama is training his attention once again on a policy goal that has eluded his administration. He tried the legislative route in 2013, pushing hard for a package of gun control measures including expanded background checks. But that effort collapsed spectacularly in Congress.

(AP)