Vice President Biden has met with the NRA and Walmart, and he's preparing his gun control recommendations for the president. He'll announce them on Tuesday, Huffington Post reports:

"There is really a very tight window to do this," [Biden] told the press corps during his announcement Thursday.

The recommendations are expected to address a number of angles and topics on gun policy, ranging from the availability of certain firearms and ammunition to data collection between federal and state law enforcement agencies. Biden announced that a top priority would be to create a more thorough system of background checks to prevent those with criminal histories or mental illness from purchasing weapons.

There's a real sense of pessimism about any gun control legislation making it past the Republicans in Congress, but Biden says President Obama could avoid Congress entirely by issuing an executive order. Either way, gun sales are booming around the country, which is probably how history will remember our national response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School Massacre.