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Remembering a tragic moment

Dec 21st, 2012 - National News

— The nation will pay tribute this morning to the victims of last Friday's mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school.

Houses of worship around the country will ring their bells 26 times at 9:30 a.m. — exactly seven days since the shooting occurred — in memory of the 26 people killed at the school.

In Newtown, a bridge is adorned with two gold balloons, one is shaped like the number 2, the other shaped like a 6. Handwritten tributes mention 26 snowflakes. Another reads "26 angels will guide us."

— President Barack Obama says his administration has received an outpouring of support for stricter gun laws following last week's elementary school massacre in Connecticut. He says in response to an online petition: "We hear you."

The president says in a video posted today that he has been encouraged that many gun owners have said there are steps the nation can take to prevent more deadly shootings, "steps that protect our rights and protect our kids."

Obama is holding a moment of silence this morning at the White House marking one week since the shooting that killed 20 children and six adults at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school.

Obama was responding to an online petition on the White House website in which nearly 200,000 people have pushed for gun control.

— After a week of silence following the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., the National Rifle Association plans to return to the spotlight today as Congress gets ready to consider tighter restrictions on firearms in the new year.

The NRA had taken down its Facebook page and kept silent on Twitter following the shooting, but it's now warning supporters that "President Obama supports gun control measures, including reinstating an assault weapons ban."

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