By Nerda Pickler, Jun. 19, 2015, Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — President Barack Obama said Friday he refuses to accept the idea that regular mass shooting are "the new normal" in America but doesn't expect Congress to respond because of the influence of the National Rifle Association.

Obama said his first comments on the church shootings in South Carolina, in which he said that political realities foreclosed action by Congress, had been misinterpreted by some as showing he was resigned to inaction on the issue of access to guns.

"I'm not resigned," he told the U.S. Conference of Mayors. "I have faith that we will eventually do the right thing."

The president said more thoughtful debate is needed from partisans on both sides on the issue — "without demonizing all gun owners who are overwhelmingly law-abiding, but also without suggesting that any debate about this involves a wild-eyed plot to take everybody's guns away."

In an interview earlier Friday with comedian Marc Maron for his podcast, Obama said the country has to find a way to respect hunting and sportsmanship traditions while preventing a 21-year-old who "is racist or is deranged from going into a gun store and suddenly is packing and can do enormous harm."