Pro-gun-control Hollywood stars such as Amy Schumer, Julianne Moore and Elizabeth Banks have tweeted their support for Barack Obama’s latest attempt to tackle America’s epidemic of deadly shootings.

The US president announced on Tuesday that thousands of unlicensed gun shows and online dealers will be forced to conduct customer background checks for the first time under new executive actions aimed at circumventing political deadlock in Congress. He also called for greater spending on enforcement and new technology to prevent unauthorised gun use by children and others.

Schumer, who entered the debate on gun control following the shooting of two cinemagoers, Jillian Johnson, 33, and Mayci Breaux, 21, at a screening of her comedy Trainwreck in Lafayette, Louisiana, in July, was in attendance at the White House as Obama announced his proposals. She later tweeted: “Let’s go. We can #StopGunViolence”.

Moore launched a gun safety campaign, the Everytown Creative Council, with some 80 Hollywood friends and celebrities in October and has been vocal on the issue of gun control. She tweeted: “Thank you [Obama] for stepping up and taking action when Congress won’t. #StopGunViolence”.

Banks, who has previously condemned US legislators for failing to back gun control measures, tweeted: “Thank you [Obama] for a dash of common sense on guns. #StopGunViolence”.

Other well-known Hollywood figures to post their support on Twitter included Sarah Silverman, Josh Gad and Rashida Jones. Avengers actor Mark Ruffalo tweeted: “The president is taking steps to keep guns out of the wrong hands through background checks.”

On the opposite side of the political fence, James Woods and Adam Baldwin, both labelled Obama’s emotional speech at the White House “crocodile tears”.