A touch of normalcy amid horror, death

Jessica Rekos and Charlotte Bacon will be laid to rest Tuesday All Newtown schools except Sandy Hook Elementary will reopen Tuesday Dick's Sporting Goods suspends sales of some semi-automatic rifles Texas Gov. Rick Perry says he's fine with school districts arming teachers

Watch CNN's LIVE TV coverage of the Connecticut elementary school shooting as the story continues to unfold. People are sharing their concern and sadness about the Newtown school shooting. What are your thoughts? Share them with CNN iReport.

(CNN) -- With memories of last week's school massacre still hauntingly fresh, most students in Newtown will return to class Tuesday with their sense of normalcy shattered.

They'll see more police and more counselors in their buildings. But nothing can erase what happened to 20 other students across town at Sandy Hook Elementary.

Survivors from Sandy Hook won't return. Their school is still a crime scene.

It's not clear when they'll go back to class, but when they do it'll be at a different school in neighboring Monroe, Connecticut.

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Investigators found nothing to substantiate the reported threat, a police official said, declining to provide additional details. The church held Sunday services following last week's mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. Connecticut State Police officers walk out of St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church after the Newtown church received a threat December 16. Firefighters attach black bunting to a fire truck as a memorial at the fire station down the street from the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Saturday, December 15. Connecticut Chief Medical Examiner H. Wayne Carver II talks to the media about the elementary school shooting during a press conference at Treadwell Memorial Park on December 15. Zulma Sein is hugged by a family member outside of the entrance to the Sandy Hook School on Saturday. Police officers keep guard at the entrance to the street leading to the Sandy Hook Elementary School on Saturday, December 15. Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance addresses the press on December 15. Police officers stand at the entrance to the street leading to the Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 15. Corinne McLaughlin, a student at the University of Hartford, bows her head during a candlelight vigil at Hartford, Connecticut's Bushnell Park on Friday, December 14, honoring the students and teachers who died at Sandy Hook Elementary School in nearby Newtown earlier in the day. Distraught people leave the fire station after hearing news of their loved ones from officials on Friday. Emergency workers stand in front of the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. A child and her mother leave a staging area outside Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14. Members of the media converge on December 14 in front of an apartment at 1313 Grand Street in Hoboken, New Jersey. The apartment is believed to be connected to the Connecticut elementary school shooting. Faisal Ali, right, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, joins other people outside the White House on December 14 to participate in a candlelight vigil to remember the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Connecticut State Police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance, center, briefs the media on the elementary school shootings during a press conference at Treadwell Memorial Park on December 14 in Newtown. People weep and embrace near Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday, December 14. A woman leans on a man as she weeps near Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14. President Barack Obama wipes a tear as he speaks about the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School during a press briefing at the White House on December 14. A woman weeps near the site of a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14. A woman weeps near Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14. People comfort each other near Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14. A man takes in the scene near Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14. A young girl is given a blanket after being evacuated from Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14. State police personnel lead children from the school. Children wait outside Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, after the shooting. A boy weeps at Reed Intermediate School after getting news of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14. FBI SWAT team members walk along Dickinson Drive near Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14. An aerial view of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14. Connecticut State Troopers arrive on the scene outside Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14. A Connecticut State Police officer runs with a shotgun at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown on December 14. Police patrol the streets around Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14. People try to deal with the shock of the attack outside Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14. Connecticut State Police secure the scene of the shooting on December 14. People embrace outside Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14. A man escorts his son away from Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14. People take in the news outside Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14. People line up to enter Newtown Methodist Church near the the scene of the shooting on December 14. A woman speaks with a Connecticut state trooper outside Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14. The streets around Sandy Hook Elementary are packed with first responders and other vehicles. A view of the scene at Sandy Hook Elementary School after the shooting. A young boy is comforted outside Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14. People embrace each other on December 14. 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As investigators dig deeper into what led to this mass tragedy, two victims -- a pair of 6-year-olds -- will be buried Tuesday.

Meanwhile, more details about the gunman are slowly emerging. And under the cloud of national mourning, a renewed debate about gun control is heating up.

The investigation

A former director of security for Newtown Public Schools shed new light Monday night about the gunman, Adam Lanza.

Richard Novia said Lanza had Asperger's syndrome, based on documents as well as conversations with Lanza's mother, who was killed shortly before the Sandy Hook massacre.

Novia said as part of his job, which he left in 2008, he would be informed of students who might pose problems to themselves or others for whatever reason.

He also said he received "intake information" -- which he said "is common for any students troubled or impaired or with disabilities." The idea was to keep track of and help students who may need it.

However, Novia said he never thought Lanza was a threat and certainly never thought he was capable of such violence.

After shooting, cops take no-tolerance approach to copycat threats

Russ Hanoman, a friend of Lanza's mother, previously told CNN that Lanza had Asperger's syndrome and that he was "very withdrawn emotionally."

But CNN has not been able to independently confirm whether Lanza was diagnosed with autism or Asperger's syndrome, a higher-functioning form of autism. Both are developmental disorders, not mental illnesses.

Many experts say neither Asperger's nor autism can be blamed for the rampage.

"There is absolutely no evidence or any reliable research that suggests a linkage between autism and planned violence," the Autism Society said in a statement. "To imply or suggest that some linkage exists is wrong and is harmful to more than 1.5 million law-abiding, nonviolent and wonderful individuals who live with autism each day."

Dr. Max Wiznitzer, a pediatric neurologist and autism expert at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, also said the gunman's actions can't be linked with autism spectrum disorders.

"Aggression and violence in the ASD population is reactive, not preplanned and deliberate," he said.

For example, sometimes children with autism will get violent because they are sick or frustrated and unable to communicate how they feel.

Meanwhile, authorities are investigating the remnants of the shooter's smashed computer, trying to find e-mails he may have sent and websites he may have visited in hopes of understanding what he was thinking, a law enforcement official said.

Gun control

What happened in Newtown should never happen again.

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Advocates on both sides of the gun control debate agree on that sentiment. But they're at staunch odds about how to turn words into reality.

The grassroots group Newtown United is sending a delegation to Washington on Tuesday to meet with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence as well as families from July's movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colorado.

The new group, which formed out of Newtown on Sunday, aims to create meaningful dialogue -- both locally and beyond -- about what may have led to the tragedy.

Until school shooting, 1 homicide in almost a decade

Two national polls conducted shortly after the Newtown shootings suggest more Americans want stricter gun control:

In a Washington Post/ABC News poll, 54% of adults favor stricter gun control laws in the country, while 43% oppose.

And a new CBS News poll indicates 57% of Americans back stricter gun laws, the highest percentage in a decade; 30% think gun laws should be kept as they are.

However, less than half of the respondents in the CBS poll -- 42% -- think stricter gun laws would have helped prevent the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary.

Sen. Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat from West Virginia and a "proud gun owner," said he's now committed to "dialogue that would bring a total change" after the massacre in Newtown.

"Who would have ever thought, in America or anywhere in the world, that children would be slaughtered?" he said. "It's changed me."

The debate is playing out not just in Newtown and Washington, but across the United States.

John Licata told CNN's iReport there needs to be better vetting before people buy guns, and assault weapons should be banned -- something Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, says she'll propose once the new Congress convenes in January.

But some say the shooting illustrates the need for more armed guards -- and possibly armed teachers -- in schools.

Gun lobby has laid groundwork against any new laws

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said if school districts decide arming teachers is the best way to keep schools safe, so be it.

If Texas residents are duly background-checked, trained and have a concealed-handgun license, "you should be able to carry your handgun anywhere in the state," Perry said, according to CNN affiliate WFAA.

Gun owner Jameson Riley of Colorado said recent mass shootings have made him consider getting a concealed weapon permit.

"I have a 2-year-old daughter, and she is the light of my life," Riley said. "And I would like to protect her."

Out of respect for the Newtown victims and their families, Dick's Sporting Goods has removed all guns from its store closest to Newtown, the company said.

Dick's, one of the largest sporting goods retailers in the world, has also suspended the sale of some semi-automatic rifles nationwide, the company said.

It was unclear how long the Dick's will keep its suspension of "modern sporting rifles."

Two very premature funerals

While adults and children try to move on, two more 6-year-olds from Sandy Hook will be laid to rest Tuesday.

Jessica Rekos was obsessed with horses -- horse books, horse movies, drawing horses and writing stories about them. She was eagerly anticipating a pair of cowgirl boots for Christmas.

As her relatives grieve, they are also "trying to help her brother Travis understand why he can't play with his best friend," her family said.

Charlotte Bacon was a bundle of energy under her distinctive red curls. She also loved school and dresses, her grandmother told CNN affiliate WCCO in Minnesota.

Charlotte will also be buried Tuesday.

The series of funerals will carry on for days. Some residents in this emotionally drained community plan to attend multiple funerals this week.