There was a candlelight vigil at the Fairfield Hills open space in Newtown last night paying tribute to the 20 children and 6 adults who were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School last Friday.  It was one of many memorials in the area honoring the victims.  At the state capital this week Newtown State Representative Chris Lyddy says everyones thoughts and prayers have served as a tremendous source of strength.

Lyddy says the over the last several days Newtown has become the epicenter of faith, hope and love for the world, proudly boasting a sense of community with a big hear that bleeds for those lost last Friday.  During remarks to the joint session he said that in the days, weeks, months and years that come, Newtown will not define itself by the evil brought by a deranged man, but by the beautiful legacy of those who were lost.

Lyddy also had a message for his colleagues .  He called on the legislature to use their precious time there to make a difference and take inventory of what matters.

Many people continue to struggle to understand what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School last Friday.  US Senator-elect Chris Murphy is among them.  He says there are some answers that have come.  The kind of community that Newtown is and the deepness of love there is in the region, the state and the country.

Murphy says these 20 kids had only goodness and purity of spirit within them and that's what needs to be taken away from this tragedy.

Meanwhile, Murphy says the announcement from the NRA was the most tone-deaf statement he's ever heard.  He says while Newtown continues the horrifying work of burying 20 children, the NRA has the gall to say that the solution to this problem is more, not fewer guns.

Senator Richard Blumenthal says better mental health services and treatment, and stronger support and resources for enforcement of existing and new laws, must also be part of a common sense solution to curbing gun violence.

He says he will live forever with the looks on parents faces and the sounds of their cries of grief and anguish as they left the firehouse after getting word of a parent's worst nightmare.

Blumenthal spoke on the Senate floor saying that people in Connecticut have told him the same thing over and over; something needs to be done.  He says assault weapons that aren't meant for self defense or hunting need to be banned.  He is also calling for a ban of high capacity magazines and more thorough background checks.