The Note's Must-Reads are a round-up of today's political headlines and stories from ABC News and the top U.S. newspapers. Posted Monday through Friday right here at www.abcnews.com

Compiled by ABC News' Jayce Henderson, Amanda VanAllen, and Jordan Mazza

PRESIDENT OBAMA: ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf: " There's a New Obama in Town" There's a new President in town. But what can he get done? He's boldly progressive. He's resolute. On gun control and on the debt ceiling he's taking the fight to Congress, telling them what HE wants and how it should be instead of letting them hammer out the details like they did on health reform, Wall Street reform and other first term legislative successes. LINK

GUN CONTROL: The Hill's Justin Sink: " Obama versus the NRA" President Obama on Wednesday initiated a high-stakes gun-control fight with Congress and the National Rifle Association (NRA), demanding that lawmakers approve significant new restrictions on firearms in response to a string of deadly shootings. Obama said Congress should pass bans on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines and agree to universal background checks intended to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill. LINK

The Los Angeles Times' Paul West, Kathleen Hennessey and Richard Simon: " Obama challenges Congress on gun laws" Pledging to "put everything [he's] got into this," a somber President Obama challenged Congress on Wednesday to approve an extensive package of gun control proposals that he said would help prevent mass shootings and reduce the epidemic of gun violence. The president's response to the December massacre at a Connecticut school included reimposing a ban on sales of assault-style weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, plus expanding background checks of gun buyers. Those measures will face strong opposition in Congress from most Republicans and some Democrats, making prospects for passage highly uncertain. LINK

The New York Daily News' Joseph Straw and Dan Friedman: " President Obama proposes universal background checks and assault-weapons ban, plus 23 executive actions to curb gun violence that don't need OK from Congress" She loved pink. She loved the beach. She wanted to be a painter. And she is an inspiration for the sweeping $500 million plan that President Obama announced Wednesday to curb gun violence. Obama singled out 7-year old Grace McDonnell - one of the victims of the Newtown, Conn., shooting rampage - as he launched the biggest national push for new gun laws in 20 years. LINK

The Washington Times' David Sherfinkski and Dave Boyer: " Obama: U.S. will be 'judged' on guns" President Obama set up the first major fight of his second term on Wednesday as he vowed to directly confront gun rights supporters and called on average Americans to back him in his bid to limit ammunition and semi-automatic firearms sales, expand background checks to all gun purchases and encourage doctors to ask certain patients whether they own guns. Speaking little more than a month after the shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Mr. Obama unveiled his proposals surrounded by victims' families and four children who had written him letters fearing they or their families could be the next targets of gun violence. LINK

The New York Times' Peter Baker and Michael D. Shear: "Obama to 'Put Everything I've Got' Into Gun Control" Four days before taking the oath of office, President Obama on Wednesday staked the beginning of his second term on an uphill quest to pass the broadest gun control legislation in a generation. LINK

The Washington Post's Philip Rucker and Ed O'Keefe: " Obama's far-reaching gun-proposals face uncertain fate in divided Congress" The gun-control agenda that President Obama unveiled with urgency on Wednesday now faces an uncertain fate in a bitterly divided Congress, where Republican opposition hardened and centrist Democrats remained noncommittal after a month of feverish public debate. LINK

USA Today's Aamer Madhani and David Jackson: " Analysis: With gun control, Obama takes political chance" The beauty of a second term presidency, at least for the man in the Oval Office, is that political calculations become less important as he considers policies he wants to pursue. President Obama's sweeping gun-safety agenda laid out Wednesday reflects just that reality as he called on Americans to get behind a dramatic plan that he believes can help stem gun violence. LINK

The Wall Street Journal's Laura Meckler, Peter Nicholas and Colleen McCain Nelson: " Obama's Gun Curbs Face a Slog in Congress" President Barack Obama's package of gun-control measures immediately reignited longstanding divisions between liberal members of his own party eager to identify with a clampdown on guns and more-centrist Democrats who pride themselves on defending gun rights, underscoring the fraught path ahead. Girding for resistance, the president in his Wednesday address called for people across the country to lobby their lawmakers to overcome certain opposition from the National Rifle Association, the nation's largest gun-rights group, and its supporters. "I will put everything I've got into this," Mr. Obama said. LINK

CHIEF OF STAFF: Politico's Josh Gerstein: " Obama turns to 'team player' McDonough as chief of staff" President Barack Obama plans to name Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough as his next chief of staff, a Democratic source briefed on the plans tells POLITICO. McDonough would replace Jack Lew, whom Obama nominated to be his new Treasury secretary. LINK

ABC NEWS VIDEOS: " Obama on Gun ViolenceMeasures: 'This is Common Sense'" LINK

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