The shock of the mass shooting at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school has faded, but the sadness of the tragedy still comes in waves, as parents buried their babies this week under the glare of a national media blitz.

Unlike past mass shootings, though, the outrage over the murder of 20 6- and 7-year-old and seven adults seems to have shifted the paradigm in the country’s approach to guns, which now number some 300 million. The tragedy also renewed calls on addressing how we treat mental illnesses.