President Obama has always supported more gun control laws, calling loudly for legislation after the Newtown and Charleston massacres, but Congress has rejected any such bill.

After the Senate refused to pass his key initiatives including an "assault" weapons ban in 2013, the president turned to executive actions to try and push his agenda through. Republicans have still been able to successfully thwart most of his pen-and-phone-directed actions.

The Trace presented a record of Obama's most ambitious executive actions earlier this month.

The administrations was successful on some gun control measures including addressing access to mental health services, training first responders, and recalling defective gun accessories.

But most of his achievements have been few and far in between.

Obama's earliest executive actions instructed the Department of Justice to create a report on lost and stolen guns. The DOJ's found that 190,342 firearms were reported missing from private individuals, and another 16,677 from licensed firearm dealers.

Trace reported that the 207,019 missing firearms from the 2012 DOJ report was an underestimation due to a 2003 DOJ appropriations bill that prevents the ATF from demanding firearms dealers to keep a physical inventory. That rider was made permanent by Congress in 2013, making it impossible to get an actual number.

Another move by the president was when he demanded the Center for Disease Control and Prevention carry out additional research on gun violence, despite the fact that Congress threatened to defund the program. The CDC sponsored a report by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council to summarize past studies and find key areas for future research in 2013 but has not produced any new inquiries.

House Republicans rejected an effort by Rep. Nita Lowery (D-N.Y.) that would have permitted the CDC to study gun violence without jeopardizing future funding.

Republicans in the Senate also held up the president on his initiative to find a permanent director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive, the position had been vacant for seven years. The Senate confirmed B. Todd Jones, who had been serving as acting director on a part-time basis, in 2013.

Jones resigned in March of 2015, and the Senate may hold out until the end of Obama's presidency to confirm another one.

Obama's most controversial executive action involved getting states to report prohibited firearm buyers to the federal background check system. The push by Obama came in the wake of the Newtown massacre and many Republican-controlled state governments have simply refused to comply.

States refused to report people who had been involuntarily institutionalized for mental health problems, citing privacy protections.

While there was an 800 percent increase in state reporting by 2013, most of that information came from just 12 states. Some liberal groups are now demanding that the federal government withhold grants to penalize states that refuse to comply.

With just 18 months left of the Obama presidency, the liberal hope of pushing for more gun control may remain just a fantasy.