Newtown's legislative council had heard enough: residents complaining about loud gunfire, the Connecticut town's small police station inundated with phone calls from frightened residents. So, a few months ago, they tried to restrict when and where residents could shoot their guns in an effort to quiet the complaints. Instead, they got an earful from gun-control opponents.

POL-Poll-Gun-Control

Two new polls conducted immediately after Friday's horrific shootings in Connecticut suggest the killings may be changing some minds about gun control.

Connecticut-Shooting-Newtown-Profile

Ken Henggeler poured his grief into the thing he loved most: carpentry. Shaken by the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, the retired teacher and longtime resident of Newtown went to his barn, picked up an oak children's bench and went to work. He sawed away, cutting it into two shelves. On one, he made 20 individual slots for candles, one for each slain child. On the other, he placed six candles for the heroic educators. He drove into town, unsure of his destination. At the intersection of Main Street and Sugar Street, he felt a tug. After all, the park there is called The Pleasance. On a tree and nearby street pole, there were two signs. Both read: Pray for Newtown.

Connecticut-Shooting-World-Reaction

On Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, a line of 26 black crosses stand in the sand, with the Stars and Stripes behind them, and a pot of flowers alongside. They are the tribute of the group Rio de Paz -- River of Peace -- to the victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School, from a group that knows all too well what tragedies gun violence can inflict on society. Brazil, Norway, Britain, France and Australia are among many countries that have seen terrible episodes of gun violence in recent years. But alongside the many expressions of sympathy and condolences that have poured into Newtown, Connecticut, from around the world, there is also a sense of bewilderment that such tragedies happen on an almost routine basis in America.

World-Newtown-Shootings-Gun-Controls

The shocking scenes that unfolded at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday have added another name to the list of respectable but otherwise unremarkable towns forever scarred by tragedy.

Connecticut-Shooting-Teacher-Heroism

Facing down a gunman, placing yourself in the path of flying bullets, forfeiting your life to protect innocents. It's a job description fitting for a soldier or police officer, but for a school teacher -- an elementary school teacher at that? What the teachers and principal at Sandy Hook Elementary School did for the kids in their care could win an soldier in a war zone a Purple Heart. But the soldier makes a conscious choice to face mortal danger when he or she enlists. Sandy Hook's heroes did not. Adam Lanza did not give them that choice.

Connecticut-Shooting-Principal-Family

As people across the world try to comprehend the massacre, George Horschprung has been a left with a future that no longer makes sense.

Connecticut-Shooting-Victims

Vignettes of the victims whose lives were snatched during the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school.

Connecticut-Nancy-Lanza-Profile

Nancy Lanza was raising a quiet, socially awkward young man, the kind of teenager who, a former classmate recalled, would just go stand in the corner. Lanza herself, affable and outgoing, seemed nothing like her boy. She liked guns, say people who knew her -- but she was responsible with them, and how Adam Lanza allegedly got hold of at least a few of them to commit a massacre in an elementary school remained unclear Monday.

MED-Connecticut-Shooting-Autism

Since news first broke about the shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, people began wondering how something so horrible could happen. Within a few hours, before the magnitude of the tragedy was fully known, reports began to surface that the shooter, Adam Lanza, was autistic or had Asperger's syndrome in addition to a possible personality or anxiety disorder such as obessive-compulsive disorder. A relative told investigators that Lanza had a form of autism, according to a law enforcement official, who spoke under condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the investigation. CNN has not been able to confirm independently whether Lanza was diagnosed with autism or Asperger's syndrome, a higher-functioning form of autism. However, national autism organizations cautioned against speculation about a link between violence and autism or Asperger's.

MED-Tragedy-Children-Heal

The anguish is unimaginable. In the midst of their own loss, grief-stricken parents in Newtown, Connecticut, now struggle for ways to comfort their children: What to say? How to react? What to watch for in the child?

TRAVEL-Gas-Prices-AAA

It's beginning to look a lot like 2011 again at the nation's gas pumps: The national average price of gasoline has dropped to a fraction of a penny under $3.25 a gallon, according to the American Automobile Association -- the lowest average in almost two years.

US-Oldest Person Dead

The Des Moines, Iowa woman named the world's oldest living person earlier this month has died, according to family. Dina Manfredini died Monday at the retirement center where she lived after suffering a fever, her granddaughter, Lori Logli said.