Given the task definition and input, reply with output. In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.

President Barack Obama’s bid to assert himself in his final year will begin with long-awaited executive actions on gun control, expected to be released next week, shortly after he returns to Washington. 
  
 The White House is putting finishing touches on several measures in an effort to make progress on curbing gun violence, an issue the president and close aides have found frustratingly intractable, before the race to replace him enters prime time. 
  
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 According to gun industry insiders and others familiar with the proposals, the changes include requiring an expanded number of small-scale gun sellers to be licensed — and therefore conduct background checks — whenever selling a weapon. This wouldn’t close the so-called gun show loophole, though it has the potential to narrow it. 
  
 The administration is also expected to impose tighter rules for reporting guns that get lost or stolen on their way to a buyer. 
  
 Neither comes close to the stronger gun control measures Obama sought in the wake of the 2012 mass shooting of schoolchildren in Sandy Hook and that he has said he still wants. But with Congress unlikely to approve any new gun curbs before the 2016 election, the measures are in line with what gun-control advocates were hoping would be adopted before Obama leaves office. 
  
 As with every aspect of the president’s final year, the decisions about the gun actions are being made with a sense of limited time and the 2016 political calendar. Obama will be returning from his Hawaii vacation, eager to make a splash; an earlier-than-normal State of the Union address on Jan. 12 is central to that strategy. But with the Iowa caucuses taking place on Feb. 1, Obama will have only a small window to act before the primary melee begins to crowd out other political news. 
  
 The background check change has been anticipated for months. Obama will tighten the definition of what it means to be “engaged in the business” of firearms sales. Currently, the law says people who sell guns with the “principal objective of livelihood and profit” have to get a dealer’s license through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — and therefore conduct a background check on buyers no matter where they sell, including online or at a gun show. 
  
 It’s unclear whether a lot more dealers would line up for licenses. But gun-control advocates say a better definition would make it much easier to prosecute sellers who should, but don’t. Only about half of the people who are tried for selling guns without a license are convicted by juries, according to a report from Everytown, the pro-gun control group led by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. 
  
 In an interview, Everytown officials couldn’t confirm whether the White House was heeding their advice. But, said legal director Liz Avore, “Any kind of clarification would be beneficial in this context because right now most sellers and prosecutors are kind of flying blind.” 
  
 It's not clear whether Obama has settled on final language yet. But as one of the major proponents of a change, Everytown has recommended adding several factors to the definition — including selling guns in their original packaging, reselling a gun shortly after acquiring it, maintaining a certain quantity of guns for sale or selling more than 25 guns a year — as possible signals that someone needs a license. 
  
 A top gun industry executive defended the current definition, saying it requires dealers to make most of their living from gun sales before requiring a license. Based on conversations with ATF officials this month, the executive described the upcoming change as "overreach": “If you are not doing it for the principal purpose of earning a livelihood AND earn a profit, you are not engaged in the business as defined by Congress,” he said in an email. 
  
 Another victory for advocates is likely to be a requirement for all licensed dealers and manufacturers to report to federal authorities any guns that are stolen in transit to a buyer as missing from their inventory. Currently, advocates say, thieves often target packages addressed to gun retailers in the hopes of stealing unregistered guns that are harder to trace. And while buyer and seller might sort out refunds or replacements on their own, they’re not required to report the missing guns to the National Crime Information Center. 
  
 ATF first proposed the new regulation in August 2014, which industry opposed, saying a voluntary reporting program was working just fine. But the year-and-a-half lag between the rule’s proposal and finalization is another factor urging Obama to act forcefully as he enters the last year in his term. 
  
 It is not clear whether the measure will take the form of a new regulation (which would take months longer to finish because of requirements for public comment) or clarification of an existing rule, which would take less time but might not carry as much weight with the courts — or a future administration. 
  
 “We have not been told that they are drafting a proposed rule,” the industry executive said. “But it remains to be seen.” 
  
 The White House declined to comment on the substance of the executive actions or their timing. Communications Director Jen Psaki told reporters at an event hosted by Bloomberg News in mid-December that the new gun measures were coming in “weeks, not months.” 
  
 This latest round of executive moves follows 23 actions related to gun violence that Obama ordered in 2013, in the months following the Sandy Hook massacre, plus two more in 2014. During that same period, Vice President Joe Biden led a failed campaign with congressional Democrats to pass a bill to impose near-universal background checks. 
  
 The president’s announcement of new gun actions will be more like his immigration executive orders in late 2014 — currently held up by the courts — issued as part of a broader campaign to pressure Congress and draw a contrast with Republicans. 
  
 White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett also raised gun-control advocates’ hopes for new domestic violence provisions last month. In a post on the actress Lena Dunham’s website, Jarrett noted that guns are the most likely cause of death for women who are victims of domestic partner violence. 
  
 Gun-control activists acknowledged that changing the rules for licenses might have limited impact on what sellers actually do in the short term. But in this political environment, they’ll take whatever measures they can, no matter how incremental. 
  
 “Setting cultural norms," said Everytown research director Ted Alcorn, "is something that laws do." 
  
  ||||| (CNN) President Barack Obama will meet Monday with Attorney General Loretta Lynch to discuss options for tougher gun restrictions and is expected to announce in the coming days a new executive action with the goal of expanding background checks on gun sales. 
  
 Described as "imminent" by people familiar with the White House plans, the set of executive actions would fulfill a promise by the President to take further unilateral steps the administration says could help curb gun deaths. 
  
 Plans for the action are not yet complete, and those familiar with the process warn that unforeseen circumstances could delay an announcement. But gun control advocates are expecting the new actions to be revealed next week, ahead of Obama's annual State of the Union address, set for January 12. 
  
 The White House wouldn't comment directly on the exact timing or content of Obama's executive orders. White House spokesman Eric Schultz said that the President expected a set of recommendations on unilateral action to arrive at the beginning of the year. 
  
 Plans began to become clearer on New Year's Day with a White House announcement accompanying Obama's weekly address that on Monday the president would meet with Lynch. 
  
 "Change, as always, is going to take all of us," Obama said in his weekly address. "The gun lobby is loud and well organized in its defense of effortlessly available guns for anyone. The rest of us are going to have to be just as passionate and well organized in our defense of our kids. That's the work of citizenship -- to stand up and fight for the change that we seek." 
  
 "We know that we can't stop every act of violence," Obama said. "But what if we tried to stop even one? What if Congress did something -- anything -- to protect our kids from gun violence?" 
  
 White House spokesman Schultz said Obama was "expressing urgency" for a list of steps he can take on his own after high-profile incidents of gun violence at the end of this year. 
  
 "It is complicated. That's why it's taken some time for our policy folks, our lawyers, and our experts to work through this and see what's possible," Schultz said. 
  
 A spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association said the group had no comment. The group previously told CNN that Obama's "gun control agenda was rejected by Congress. Now, he is doing what he always does when he doesn't get his way, defying the will of the people and using executive action." 
  
 The group said at the time that Obama had his "wish list of gun control" in California but "it didn't prevent the San Bernardino attack." 
  
 "The fact is, the President's gun control agenda will only make it harder for law-abiding citizens to exercise their right to self-defense," said NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker. 
  
 'Gun show loophole' 
  
 Gun control advocates and White House officials say the focus remains on the so-called "gun show loophole," which allows certain sellers of guns -- at gun shows and elsewhere -- to avoid conducting background checks before making sales. 
  
 Months after the Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school massacre that claimed 26 victims in 2012, the then-Democratic majority Senate rejected a similar proposal. 
  
 Congress would still need to act in order to make background checks fully universal. But advocates and administration lawyers have struck upon a provision in the law that could allow for Obama to expand the background check requirement to additional sellers. 
  
 Federal law currently requires all individuals "engaged in the business" of selling guns to obtain a license and conduct background checks on buyers. But others who only make occasional sales or are selling firearms from a personal collection are exempted from the background check requirement. 
  
 Gun control advocates say Obama could take action himself by issuing a regulation that provides expanded guidance on who falls under the "in the business" standard. 
  
 One group, the Michael Bloomberg-helmed Everytown for Gun Safety, has provided recommendations to the White House that include creating a test for assessing who must become licensed to continue selling guns. Factors would include volume and speed of sales, and whether or not the seller relies on advertising to sell guns. 
  
 The group also recommended Obama define a gun in a "personal collection" as having been in the seller's possession for at least a year. 
  
 Before leaving for his winter vacation in Hawaii, Obama met with Bloomberg at the White House to discuss gun control. 
  
 Aside from the background check provision, people familiar with Obama's plans say his new gun control announcement will include new funding for government agencies to better enforce existing gun laws. 
  
 Other gun control advocates are pushing the administration to set an annual sales threshold of 25 guns for a seller to be defined as "engaged in the business" of selling guns, and thus required to obtain a license and conduct background checks. 
  
 That would be one of several factors used to determine whether or not a seller meets the definition of "in the business." Others would include whether or not they advertise. 
  
 Aside from the gun-show loophole, advocates are anticipating the administration bolster regulations on the reporting of lost and stolen guns. Currently, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is only required to investigate a gun theft if 10 or more guns are stolen and one of them is used in a crime. The administration is expected to tighten those requirements by reducing the minimum number of guns stolen that would prompt an investigation, and potentially eliminating the requirement that one of the guns is used in a crime. |||||

President Obama looks likely to begin his final year in office by taking unilateral action on gun control in an effort to reduce shooting deaths, CNN reports. The president is expected to release an executive action on gun control sometime before his Jan. 12 State of the Union address. According to Politico, the main component of the executive action would make the definition of who is a gun seller more specific than someone who sells guns with the "principal objective of livelihood and profit." That means people who only sell a few guns per year or sell their own gun collections could be required to be licensed and conduct background checks, CNN reports. According to Politico, this change would shrink—but not close—the "gun show loophole." A second part of the executive action would require guns that are lost somewhere between the seller and buyer to be reported, Politico reports. Thieves will target packages addressed to gun sellers in order to get their hands on unregistered firearms. Currently, all reporting of those crimes is voluntary. According to CNN, the executive action could also increase funding to enforce gun laws. While the exact contents of the executive action are still under wraps or being decided, Politico reports it's almost certainly less than what Obama pushed for following the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012. Both increased licensing and mandatory reporting of stolen guns are opposed by gun-rights activists. Obama has taken 25 executive actions on gun control since 2013.