President Obama says he hasn’t given up on gun control, despite legislative defeats and opposition from many Americans.

“No, I haven’t given up,” he told ABC News in a new interview. “What we’ve done is to try to do as much as we could administratively to tighten up how background checks are run, to go after illegal drug runners. But I will tell you that trying to get something through Congress has proven to be really difficult. And it’s heart-breaking.”

Obama said his administration will continue to fight for tougher gun control, even with executive actions.

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“But the power of NRA and the gun lobby in Congress is formidable,” Obama said. “And you know, we’re going to keep chipping away at this, but until you get intense public demands for this, it’s probably not going to happen because some special interests and lobbyists in Washington are really, really strong and their membership feels very intensely about the issue. Whereas the general public is concerned about it, but doesn’t make it their top priority.”