Plans to target private gun sales have been in the works for some time, but the administration is wary of political and potentially legal consequences of implementing the changes via executive order. Officials are analyzing state and local gun control efforts to find what they consider a winning strategy that will prevent mass shootings, reports the Los Angeles Times.

“That work includes looking at the gun show loophole,” a White House official involved in the work tells the LA Times. “But taking administrative action in this space is enormously complicated, with complex and intertwined policy, legal and operational considerations to take into account.”

“That process is very much underway,” he adds.