Aurora , Colorado ( CNN ) -- One year after a gunman killed 12 people in an Aurora movie theater , the city is marking its losses with solemn moments and a continuing debate over the place of guns in society . Tom Sullivan was part of an observance at a state park Friday , where volunteers read aloud thousands of names of victims of gun violence . His son , 27-year-old Alex Sullivan , died in the Century 16 theater on July 20 , 2012 . Pay tribute to the victims . `` A guy walked into a movie theater with a 100-round drum , and one second my son was watching a movie and the next second he was dead , '' Sullivan said . The ceremonial reading , which lasted more than 10 hours , ended at 12:28 a.m. Saturday , the moment when the shooting began one year earlier . The event was part of the `` No More Names '' bus tour , sponsored by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg 's group , Mayors Against Illegal Guns . On Saturday , the group announced a new TV ad featuring Stephen Barton , a recent college graduate and Fulbright scholar , who was shot in the face and neck during the cinema shooting . In the ad , Barton urges Washington to reform gun laws he calls `` dangerously lax and loophole-ridden , '' the group said . In April , however , the U.S. Senate defeated a compromise plan to expand background checks on firearms sales and a proposal to ban some semi-automatic weapons modeled after military assault weapons . On Friday , Carlee Soto came to mark the Aurora killings , although she lost her sister five months later . First-grade teacher Victoria Soto , 27 , was killed in the elementary school massacre in Newton , Connecticut . `` Every situation is different , '' Carlee Soto said . `` From a movie theater to an elementary school to a church , it 's all different . But we all carry the same grief , and we all share the wanting to change our gun laws . '' A handful of gun rights advocates peacefully protested the event Friday . One of them , Rob Blancken , said all Coloradans should remember the tragedy . `` It 's also a tragedy that a firearm was not allowed to be used inside that theater that may have prevented that tragedy , '' Blancken said . The Colorado gunman sprayed bullets into a packed midnight screening of the Batman film , `` The Dark Knight Rises . '' The rampage a year today left 70 people injured . Colorado Theater Shooting : Fast Facts . The city of Aurora scheduled a series of events Saturday , including `` healing activities '' such as meditation , music , counseling and yoga . Some activities were scheduled for the newly-opened Aurora Strong Community Resilience Center , which is designed to teach trauma coping skills . James Holmes , 24 , is expected to be tried in 2014 for the Aurora shootings . He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity . Ted Rowlands reported from Aurora , Colorado , and David Simpson reported and wrote from Atlanta . Michael Martinez contributed from Los Angeles .
NEW : Newton Mayor James Holmes 's gun control group releases gun reform ad . Volunteers read names of gun violence victims for midnight . A few gun rights advocates protest peacefully . Trial expected in July 20 , 2012 for Bloomberg , who has pleaded not guilty to the killings .