Sen. Marco Rubio R-Fla. criticized President Obama moments ago for his speech promoting gun control and abusing his executive powers. The president initiated 23 executive orders during his press conference, vowing to “use whatever weight this office holds” to promote his agenda.

In a statement, Rubio warned that Obama’s use of executive power was troubling.

“Making matters worse is that President Obama is again abusing his power by imposing his policies via executive fiat instead of allowing them to be debated in Congress,” he said. “President Obama’s frustration with our republic and the way it works doesn’t give him license to ignore the Constitution.”

Rubio added that Obama’s proposals would not have actually prevented the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut and were threatening the Second Amendment rights of legal gun owners.

“President Obama is targeting the 2nd Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens instead of seriously addressing the real underlying causes of such violence,” Rubio said.

More from Sen. Rubio: Obama ‘doesn’t have the guts to admit’ that he doesn’t believe in the Second Amendment