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Obama appeared with four children, representing hundreds who wrote to him after the 20 children and six adults were killed when a gunman blazing an assault rifle went on the rampage in Connecticut last month.
"This is our first task as a society, keeping our children safe. This is how we will be judged and their voices should compel us to change."
"We can't put this off any longer. I will put everything I've got into this," Obama said, laying out the most sweeping gun control legislation in decades and daring Congress not to defy public outrage and block his plans.
Obama signed 23 executive actions, using his presidential power in a swift effort to check a rash of gun violence including the killings of 20 kids at Sandy Hook Elementary School last month and other recent mass shootings.
And he challenged Congress to enshrine enduring reforms into law, including renewing and bolstering a ban on assault weapons, and closing loopholes that permit 40 per cent of gun sales to take place without background checks.
"This will be difficult. There will be pundits and politicians and special interest lobbyists publicly warning of a tyrannical all-out assault on liberty," Obama said.
"Behind the scenes, they'll do everything they can to block any common-sense reform and make sure nothing changes whatsoever," Obama added, underlining he did not oppose the right to bear arms laid down in the US Constitution.
While background checks may attract support, a ban on assault weapons could force many Democrats from largely conservative states to unwelcome tough votes in the run-up to the 2014 mid-term election.
Several prominent Republicans rejected Obama's plans out of hand, accusing him of attacking the right to bear arms.
"Guns require a finger to pull the trigger," Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry said.
Obama's executive actions, which do not need congressional approval, would require government agencies to make relevant information available for background checks to prevent "dangerous" people getting guns.
Obama ordered a new national campaign on safe and responsible gun ownership, a review of standards for gun safes in the home, and new training for schools on how to respond to an invasion by armed assailants.
The president required the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to research the causes and prevention of gun violence -- after some lawmakers tied the agency's hands in a bid to thwart new gun control measures.
The president urged Congress to renew a ban on assault weapons that expired in 2004 and to limit ammunition magazines to 10 rounds, in a bid to check the damage a shooter could do once engaged in a mass shooting.
The White House complained Wednesday that an NRA attack ad accusing Obama of hypocrisy because his daughters get armed Secret Service protection and other school children do not was "repugnant and cowardly."
Obama's package also seeks to crack down on guns trafficking, calling on lawmakers to equip law enforcement agencies with new powers to prosecute gun criminals.
Oregon sheriff: I won't enforce new gun laws
Another Oregon sheriff says he would refuse to enforce any new federal gun law he believes is unconstitutional.
Crook County Sheriff Jim Hensley said Tuesday he sent the same letter to Vice President Joe Biden that was sent Monday by Linn County Sheriff Tim Mueller.
The letter says politicians are attempting to exploit the deaths of innocent victims in the Connecticut school shooting by supporting laws that would harm law-abiding Americans.
Hensley told KTVZ he believes in the Second Amendment, and he says officials should consider other factors that may have a role in mass shootings, such as violent video games.
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