We appreciate President Obama’s courageous action Tuesday ordering stricter gun laws to curb the out-of-control firearm violence that is plaguing communities across the United States.

He has done by executive order what the spineless politicians in Congress and the Virginia General Assembly have failed to achieve because they have been bought and paid for by the National Rifle Association and like zealots.

In 2013-14, gun rights groups, including the NRA and the National Association for Gun Rights, spent $31 million nationally in campaign contributions and lobbying activities, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

They outspent by 7 to 1 organizations working to stem the bloodshed through tougher, tighter gun laws. Such advocacy groups spent only $4.5 million on lobbying efforts and campaign contributions during the same period. Their efforts haven’t met with success, despite the growing numbers of Americans who believe change is needed to reduce gun violence.

That’s why President Obama’s improvements are so important and resonated with right-minded people across the nation.

Even some Virginians who consider themselves wedded to Second Amendment rights found themselves understanding the president’s efforts and agreeing with his executive order requiring more gun sellers to be licensed and more gun purchasers to undergo background checks.

His changes also call for enhanced enforcement by ATF agents; sharing of mental health information by states to improve screening of purchasers before gun sales; $500 million for expanded mental health treatment; and enhanced technology for gun safety.

Who, but the most vile among us can argue with such common sense measures?

According to several gun owners organizations, more than 270 million firearms are owned in the United States, with nearly one in three households reporting they own guns.

With such vast numbers, we should be the safest nation in the world, right?

But we’re not.

In 2013, guns took more lives than several diseases, including Parkinson’s, leukemia, hypertension and kidney failure.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 33,636 people were killed by guns in 2013. That includes homicides, suicides and accidents. Another 84,000 people suffered nonfatal gunshot injuries.

In 2013, nearly 900 of our fellow Virginians suffered deaths by firearms. The numbers don’t take into account the suffering of families, employers and communities from those losses and injuries.

We live in a nation where toys and cars are regulated with more concern for safety than guns. And the more than 50 mass shootings that have taken place on American soil since 1997 — including the horrendous massacre of 33 people at Virginia Tech — have done little more than prick the conscience of the nation. People cling to claims of their constitutional right to bear arms as they thwart efforts to stem the bloodshed with sensible gun laws.

President Obama’s action Tuesday was not about curbing Second Amendment rights. It’s about curbing gun violence and saving lives.

In Virginia alone, firearms sales skyrocketed about 46 percent in December, compared with sales in December 2014. More than 70,600 criminal background checks for gun purchases were conducted in December, compared to 48,400 the same month in 2014.

Already Republican lawmakers and GOP presidential candidates are vowing to block the president’s actions with lawsuits and their own executive orders if elected that would roll back tougher gun laws.

If we want to see permanent change in the United States and in Virginia, then we must take a page from the NRA playbook and flood our congressional representatives and state legislators with emails, letters, phone calls and visits demanding gun safety laws.

Until that happens, nothing will change.