Since the mass shooting in Roseburg, Oregon, earlier this month, it's been widely reported that President Obama is considering circumventing Congress with executive action to tighten federal law on gun sales.
NBC News quoted administration officials saying Obama's major gun-control proposal would set specific guidelines for who is legally defined as a licensed gun dealer, since all licensed dealers are required to conduct background checks before conducting any sales.
The proposal, NBC News reported, would set quotas on yearly gun sales for individuals to qualify as legally being "in the business" of selling guns once they sell a certain number and thus become subject to all laws for gun dealers.
The news agency quoted sources revealing the White House is considering setting the quota at 50 or 100 gun sales per year as the threshold to trigger the requirements, although the sources added the administration has not formally settled on a specific number.
The reports of an executive action focus on a federal law that requires anyone "engage[d] in the business" of "dealing in firearms" to obtain a federal firearms license from ATF and become a licensed gun dealer.
Every licensed gun dealer is then mandated to conduct background checks prior to completing each gun sale.