President Obama invoked Newtown on Thursday at a news conference Thursday to reaffirm his push for gun-control legislation on Capitol Hill. Flanked by a group of gun-control activists, including mothers who have lost children to shootings, Obama said, “Shame on us if we’ve forgotten” the Newtown victims. Obama vowed to continue his efforts despite heavy opposition from gun-control foes.

President Obama: “There are some powerful voices on the other side that are interested in running out the clock or changing the subject or drowning out the majority of the American people to prevent any of these reforms from happening at all. They’re doing everything they can to make all our progress collapse under the weight of fear and frustration, or their assumption is, is that people will just forget about it.”

The Senate is facing an upcoming vote on a new gun-control law. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has already excluded an assault weapons ban from the overall legislation, but it could still come up for a vote as an amendment.