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At about noon Wednesday, five days after the tragedy in Newtown, Conn., President Obama addressed the nation, announcing the creation of a task force to strengthen gun control laws in America.

"We may never know all the reasons why this tragedy happened," the President said. "We do know that everyday since, more Americans have died of gun violence ... And if there is even one thing that we can do to prevent any of these events, we have a deep obligation, all of us, to try."

In the eight-minute-long prepared statement, the President announced the formation of a task force, led by Vice President Joe Biden, to come up with proposals to bring before Congress by the end of January 2013. It's not clear yet who else will sit on this task force.

While Obama did not state specifically which provisions he'd like the task force to bring to Congress, his appointment of Biden does provide some valuable insight. It was Biden who wrote the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, the law that banned assault weapons in 1994. That weapons ban expired in 2004, when Congress failed to reinstate it, opening the door for people like Adam Lanza to get access to military-grade weapons, like the Bushmaster .223 rifle he allegedly used to kill 26 innocent people last week.

In addition to an assault weapons ban, the committee led by Biden is likely to propose a high-capacity gun magazine ban as well. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has already announced she plans to introduce a bill that bans assault weapons on the first day the new Congress meets.

President Obama also urged Congress to appoint a new leader for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The position has been vacant now for six years.

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After reading his statement, President Obama took questions from reporters, most of which were about the ongoing fiscal cliff talks. The last question, though, went to ABC News' Jake Tapper, who asked "where have you been" on gun control, referencing previous mass shootings during Obama's presidency. Obama responded with a rundown of his term ("I don't think I've been on vacation"), and Tapper's now the subject of some scorn on Twitter.