WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is launching the nation’s most sweeping effort to curb gun violence in two decades, setting up a legislative fight with a deeply divided Congress that even some of his staunchest allies expect to fall short of its goals.

The broad package Obama will announce today, more than a month after the horrific Newtown, Conn., school shootings, is expected to include more than a dozen steps the president can take on his own through executive action.

Those measures will provide a pathway for skirting opposing lawmakers, but they will be limited in scope, and in some cases, focused simply on enforcing existing laws.