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Obama, in his weekly radio and Internet address, called for “meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this,” but stopped short of specifically calling for tighter gun-control laws.
The president wiped away tears in a television address on Friday, telling the nation, “Our hearts are broken.”
The holiday season tragedy was the second shooting rampage in the United States this week and the latest in a series of mass killings this year.
It revived a debate about gun-control in a country with a flourishing firearms culture and a strong lobby that has discouraged most politicians from any major efforts to address the easy availability of guns and ammunition.
‘JUST BRUTAL’
Newtown, an affluent town about 80 miles (130 km) northeast of New York City, was mourning its dead in community vigils.
“We’re just praying - just need to pray to God that this does not happen again, no matter where,” Amelia Adams, 76, said on her way into St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church with her husband Kenneth, 81.
The church, a couple of miles from the site of the shooting, was packed inside and out on Friday night with a crowd estimated at more than 1,000 people, including a large crowd outside.
“It was just, it was brutal. I can’t think of a better word. It was just brutal to have to witness the pain today,” Monsignor Robert Weiss said after the service.
“We opened the windows (of the church) so people could just hear and feel they could be part of it,” Weiss told MSNBC on Saturday, adding, “the worst days are ahead.”
“I’m sure this morning when they woke up and realized there was an empty bed in their house, it’s becoming more and more real to them,” Weiss said of the parents of the young victims.
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