Barack Obama insists his planned executive actions on gun control will be “entirely consistent” with the Constitution – even as organizations defending the Second Amendment have warned him not to act on his own.

After meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch and law enforcement members of his administration, Obama explained he wanted a “very clear understanding” of what he was trying to do with more gun control.

“I’m also confident that the recommendations that are being made by my team here are ones that are entirely consistent with the Second Amendment and people’s lawful right to bear arms,” he said.

He made an emotional defense for his upcoming actions, promising that they would “potentially save lives in this country” and “spare families the pain and the extraordinary loss that they’ve suffered” as a result of violence in the United States.

He also added that he wanted his actions to make sure “the wrong people” didn’t have guns “for the wrong reasons.”

During the White House press briefing, Press Secretary Josh Earnest admitted that the president’s actions would likely be challenged in court by political opponents but suggested that they were the right thing to do.

“The kind of arguments that we’ll be able to mobilize in the court of law are ones that I’m confident will be powerful and persuasive,” he said. “Ultimately, a judge will have to decide. But we should not be distracted however, from the fact that the reason the president is taking these actions is because Congress has utterly failed in their responsibility to do so.”