Children in Newtown, Connecticut, excluding Sandy Hook Elementary School, return to classes on Tuesday, December 18, four days after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
U.S. Rep. David Cicilline, D-Rhode Island, holds a news conference with the Brady Campaign to discuss gun violence. In attendance with the Brady Campaign were several survivors of gun violence and family members of victims of gun violence.
Members of the human rights group Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption light candles showing the names of those killed during the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, during a prayer vigil in front of the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines on December 18.
Children light candles to pay their respects to the victims of the Newtown, Connecticut, shooting at the main square in Tirana, Albania, on Monday, December 17. The deadly gun rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School has provoked strong reactions from around the world.
Protesters march on the National Rifle Association's Capitol Hill lobbyist offices in Washington on December 17.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks out for stronger gun control at a press conference at City Hall on December 17. Bloomberg, co-chair of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, was joined by victims and survivors of gun violence.
Chris Foye, whose son Chris Owens was killed by a stray bullet in 2009, stands with other survivors and family members of gun violence at Bloomberg's press conference on December 17 in New York.
People pay their respects on December 17 at a makeshift shrine in Newtown to the victims of Friday's elementary school shooting. Funerals began Monday in the Connecticut town.
Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange hold a moment of silence on December 17 in honor of the shooting victims.
Young people mourn at Newtown High School before a memorial service attended by President Obama on Sunday, December 16.
President Barack Obama waits to speak at an interfaith vigil for the shooting victims from Sandy Hook Elementary School December 16 at Newtown High School.
Mourners comfort one another December 16 before U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at an interfaith vigil for the shooting victims.
Two women embrace before the interfaith vigil at Newtown High School on Sunday evening.
From left: Newtown residents Claire Swanson, Kate Suba, Jaden Albrecht, Simran Chand and New London, Connecticut, residents Rachel Pullen and her son, Landon DeCecco, hold candles at a memorial for victims on Sunday, December 16, in Newtown, Connecticut.
A young boy walks past Christmas trees set up at a makeshift shrine to the shooting victims in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 16.
Ty Diaz is kissed by his mother, Yvette, at a memorial down the street from Sandy Hook on December 16.
Teddy bears, flowers and candles in memory of those killed are left at a memorial down the street from the school on December 16.
Two teenagers embrace at a makeshift shrine to the victims in Newtown on December 16.
Nuns pay their respects at a makeshift shrine to the victims on December 16.
Members of Sisters of Christian Charity go to lay flowers in front of the Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 16 in Newtown.
A woman receives a hug as she leaves morning service December 16 at Trinity Church in Newtown near the elementary school.
Parishioners pay their respects to the victims of the elementary school shooting while attending Mass at St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Newtown on December 16.
Police officers honor the victims of the school shooting at the St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church on December 16 in Newtown.
The Jacksonville Jaguars have a moment of silence in honor of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims before their game against the Miami Dolphins on December 16.
A parishioner kneels in front of a makeshift memorial at St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Newtown on December 16.
A police officer removes flowers from a busy intersection on December 16 in Newtown. Police said they were afraid the memorial, left for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, would cause a traffic hazard.
A woman hugs her daughter on the steps of Trinity Church on December 16 in Newtown.
Angel wood cutouts for each of the 27 victims are set up on hillside in Newtown on December 16.
People in Bangalore, India, hold cards and photographs of the slain at a candlelight vigil outside a Catholic church on December 16.
J.J. Watt of the Houston Texans shows his glove in remembrance of the victims before the start of a game against the Indianapolis Colts on December 16 in Houston.
Donna Soto, right, mother of Victoria Soto, the first-grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School who was shot and killed while protecting her students, hugs her daughter Karly while mourning their loss at a candlelight memorial at Stratford High School on Saturday, December 15, in Stratford, Connecticut.
Firefighters kneel to pay their respects at a makeshift memorial near the school in Newtown on Saturday.
A child lights a candle at a memorial filled with flowers, stuffed toys and candles outside of Saint Rose of Lima Church near Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on Saturday.
Candles light up a memorial outside of Saint Rose of Lima Church in Newtown.
Candles burn next to a lighted tree at a makeshift shrine in Newtown.
Lucas, Kelly and Michael DaSilva pray and embrace at a makeshift memorial near the school in Newtown.
People are overcome with emotion Saturday at a makeshift memorial near Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.
Residents arrive Saturday to pay tribute to the victims of an elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
A couple carry balloons to place at a curbside shrine to in Newtown on Saturday.
A mother and daughter attend a prayer service at St. John's Episcopal Church in Newtown on Saturday.
Flowers and signs of sympathy adorn the street leading to Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Claudia Urbiana and daughter Jocelyne Cardenas, left, hug outside of the entrance to the Sandy Hook school.
A makeshift memorial with flowers, stuffed toys and candles sit outside Saint Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Newtown, Connecticut, on Saturday.
A man bows his head as he stands at a makeshift memorial, outside Saint Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Newtown on Saturday, December 15.
New Jersey resident Steve Wruble, who was moved to drive out to Connecticut to support local residents, grieves for victims at the entrance to Sandy Hook village in Newtown on Saturday.
People attend a prayer service in Newtown on Saturday to reflect.
A mother hugs her children after paying tribute to the victims in Newtown on Saturday, December 15.
Newtown High School student Trevor Lopez stands outside of a church where residents have come to pray and reflect on Saturday
Andrea Jaeger places flowers and a candle at a makeshift memorial outside a firehouse near Sandy Hook Elementary School on Saturday.
The U.S. flag flies at half-staff above the White House on Saturday.
Ken Kowalsky and his daughter Rebecca, 13, embrace while standing at the end of the road leading to Sandy Hook Elementary School on Saturday.
A woman puts a flower near crosses planted by Rio de Paz (Rio of Peace), in memory of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday.
A woman sits during a service at the Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford, Connecticut on Friday, December 14.
Fans at the NBA game between the Utah Jazz and the Phoenix Suns participate in a moment of silence for the victims of the Newtown shooting on Friday in Phoenix.
An overflow crowd listens to a church service held at the St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Newtown on December 14.
People gather for a prayer vigil at St. Rose Church on Friday.
People gather for a vigil outside the White House in Washington following the Connecticut elementary school shooting on Friday.
Candles burn as people gather for a vigil outside the White House.
Hartford, Connecticut, Mayor Padro Segarra speaks emotionally about the students and teachers who died earlier in the day at Sandy Hook Elementary School in nearby Newtown at a candlelight vigil at Bushnell Park in Hartford on Friday.
Cynthia Alvarez is comforted by her mother, Lilia, as people gather for a prayer vigil at St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Newtown.
People gather for a prayer vigil at St. Rose Church in Newtown.
People gather for a prayer vigil at St. Rose Church.
People gather inside the St. Rose Church to remember the shooting victims on Friday
A woman bows her head during a vigil for the shooting victims at St. Rose Church.
People gather in the St. Rose Church for a memorial service Friday.
Women comfort each other during the vigil at St. Rose Church.
A woman looks on during the vigil at St. Rose Church.
People hug outside of the Newtown United Methodist Church on Friday, near the site of the shootings at the Sandy Hook school.
A flag at the U.S. Capitol flies at half-staff after President Barack Obama ordered the action while speaking from the White House. Obama called for "meaningful action" in the wake of the school shooting.
Julie Henson of San Francisco joins other people outside the White House to participate in a candlelight vigil on Friday.
Obama wipes tears as he makes a statement in response to the shooting on Friday.
Washington resident Rachel Perrone, left, and her 5-year-old son, Joe, center, join others outside the White House in a candlelight vigil.
Faisal Ali, right, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, joins the vigil outside the White House.
People gather outside the White House to participate in a candlelight vigil.
Supporters of gun control hold a candlelight vigil for victims of the shooting outside the White House.
- Places that were considered safe are turning into crime scenes
- That Friday's shooting happened in an elementary school was especially hard to take
- The Newtown tragedy turned everything upside down, said a psychologist
- Some people cope with this kind of tragedy by thinking it can't happen to them
Watch CNN's LIVE TV coverage of the Connecticut elementary school shooting as the story continues to unfold.
(CNN) -- Friday morning, a Connecticut school for young children was turned into a living hell.
It had been a place of innocence, a haven where boys and girls learned, laughed and played.
Now, it was a place of shock and sorrow, a grisly crime scene.
The shooting spree at Sandy Hook Elementary shattered sleepy Newtown and it shattered America's notions of what constitutes a safe place.
Gov. Malloy: Evil visited community today
Witness: 3 went into hall, 1 came back
Obama weeps over school massacre
It happened just days after a gunman shot three people, killing two of them, at an Oregon mall filled with Christmas shoppers. For three days that place also became a crime scene.
Earlier this summer, another place, a movie theater in Colorado was also marked a crime scene after a gunman shot 12 people to death at a screening of the newest Batman movie
Timeline: School violence in the U.S.
There have been other recent slaughters that have rattled America including one at an Arizona shopping center where people came to meet Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
These are not places of darkness. They are not places where people expect the worst of mankind to surface.
"There really is no safe place. That is just our imagination," said Daniela Schreier, a forensic and clinical psychologist at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.
And what is perceived as safe seems to be shrinking after a spate of high-profile crimes.
Places like the Newtown school are part of an assumptive world, said psychologist Robin Gurwitch of Duke University Medical Center. They are places where people take their safety for granted.
"Events like the Connecticut school shooting shatter that notion and we are left reeling." Gurwitch said. "What we held as our ideal has now been turned upside down."
Even President Barack Obama wiped away tears and paused to collect himself Friday as he spoke of "beautiful little children" killed Friday.
"Our hearts," he said, "are broken today.
"We've endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years and each time I learn the news, I react not as a president, but as anybody else would, as a parent," Obama said. "And that was especially true today. I know there's not a parent in America who doesn't feel the same overwhelming grief that I do."
Parents: It 'doesn't seem possible'
Or feel anxiety over having to send their children back to school on Monday.
It's not that violence has not occurred in elementary schools before.
In 1989, a 24-year-old drifter aimed his AK-47 and killed five children on an elementary school playground in California. As far back as 1959, a convict exploded a suitcase of dynamite on a school playground in Houston and killed five people, including three children.
But the school shootings that have made recent headlines, starting with Columbine in 1999, have mainly occurred at high schools. The fact that the Connecticut shootings, one of the deadliest in U.S. history, involved such young children makes the tragedy that much harder to fathom, Gurwitch said.
"We begin to think: Is it safe to even step outside?" Gurwitch said.
Some people deal with that potentially debilitating thought with denial -- that this sort of thing happens in Connecticut or in Oregon or in Colorado but it can never happen where they are.
"You have to tell yourself that," Schreier said. "Otherwise you will never go to a mall or to a school."
It's already intimidating enough with metal detectors everywhere from airports to libraries.
As horrific as the Newtown shootings are, the reality is that most schools in America still are safe, said Howard Kassinove, director of the Institute for the Study and Treatment of Anger and Aggression.
It's just that people's perceptions are more easily swayed in this era of instant information.
He likened it to a news story about a shark attack.
"What you have is this notion of one person being bitten by a shark in Australia and the news goes around the world and all of a sudden, you think shark bites are prevalent," he said.
Photos: Shock and horror
Friday's shooting was almost instantly on television: images of horror repeated many times. That is why, perhaps, that some people worry more, Kassinove said.
And they become anxious.
"The only thing we can do is to sit down with our children and talk about it, especially with the little ones," Schreier said.
Talk about this new world we live in.
Declan Procaccini, whose daughter attends Sandy Hook Elementary, did just that.
"It was only a week ago we were talking about this type of situation and I said the chances of it happening are one in a zillion at Sandy Hook," he said. "I was wrong about that."
He said he has been doing his best to soothe his children.
"It's funny -- a bomb hit and there is a lot of smoke and it's still here," he said. "I haven't had enough time to really plan, but hopefully by the time they do go back to school, I will have done a good enough job of making them feel as comfortable (as I can)."
His children were already asking him when this might happen again. The game, he said, was changed from this moment on.
Opinion: Now is the time to talk guns, mental illness
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