For a while there, Barack Obama’s fifth State of the Union address Tuesday harkened back to the Bill Clinton recitations of program after program, from preschool to free trade, mostly good ideas but barely outlined before the next one rolled out.

Then came guns.

“They deserve a vote.” The chant rang out, over and over, as Obama challenged opponents of sensible gun regulation to at least bring to the House and Senate floor his reasonable proposals for background checks and other common sense controls.

“They” were well represented in the chamber. At first lady Michelle Obama’s side were the parents of Hadiya Pendleton, the bright Chicago teenager who was shot and killed as an innocent bystander in a gang clash a week after performing at Obama’s inauguration. There was Gabby Giffords, in the chambers not as a congresswoman, as she should have been, but as a recovering victim of gun violence and now a crusader for reasonable regulation. Others, there in spirit, were the families of Newtown and Aurora, still reeling from mass killings.

Meanwhile, in Southern California, as the president spoke, Los Angeles County authorities said they believed police killer Chris Dorner had died in the burned-out Big Bear mountain cabin after he took the life of one more officer during Tuesday’s shootout. It was a bizarre juxtaposition to a State of the Union, as news bulletins and frantic Tweets about the final showdown seemed to alternate with speech details through the evening, but it punctuated the president’s point as nothing else could

Obama, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and others have proposed the most utterly reasonable regulations that could begin to curb the wild proliferation of killing machines in our communities. As sympathetic listeners joined the chant, the National Rifle Association contingent was quiet; it still holds the power, by virtue of a lobbying and campaign financing juggernaut. But if people continue to raise their voices across America as many did in those chambers Tuesday night, there is hope of change.

Obama’s focus on the economy for much of the speech was heartening, although it was light on detail. The commitment to continue strengthening the middle class was reassuring — nothing will help the economy more — as was the intent to negotiate a free trade agreement with the European Union. The president also seemed serious about true tax reform, which was refreshing.

As to raising the national minimum wage and indexing it to inflation — given the mushrooming of executive pay at the same time the number of people in poverty is growing, how can a poverty-level minimum wage be good for the country? We opposed San Jose’s voter initiative to raise the minimum only in the city, but a state or, better still, national increase creates a level playing field.

The most memorable and inspiring moments of the speech, however, involved stopping the madness of unchecked gun violence. In embracing the cause, Obama took on what may be the greatest challenge of his second term. He will need the nation’s help to meet it.