WASHINGTON, Dec. 24: America celebrates Christmas remembering 20 children slain in a kindergarten in Newtown, Connecticut, two weeks ago but America’s powerful gun lobby still refuses to give up weapons used for slaying the children.

In Newtown, where a gunman killed 20 children and five adults at a school on Dec 14, residents lit 26 candles each on their homes to remember the departed souls.

One candle is for the gunman’s mother whom he killed at home before marching down to Sandy Hook Elementary School to kill the children, aged six to seven.

A Newtown resident collected more than 60,000 stuffed animals for the surviving students while tens of thousands of toys also came from across the United States.

The Newtown post office said they have been flooded with gifts, letters, and prayers from across the country.

Local women set up tables along the main streets, distributing freshly baked pies to anyone who wants a bite. “Do there seem to be 20 new little stars twinkling in the sky during this dark Christmas season?” asks The Washington Post in a news feature on how Newtown residents are coping with their grief during this holiday season. “You have to look carefully, because this is a time of national grief, when seeing any light at all in the darkness can seem difficult, perhaps even impossible.”

People are also sending money to help Newtown residents rebuild their lives. The Sandy Hook School Support Fund alone has received about $3 million so far.

While Newtown residents criticise America’s lax gun-control laws that allowed gunman Adam Lanza and his mother to keep assault rifles at home, the country’s powerful gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, says it will continue to resist any move to curb guns.

NRA vice president Wayne LaPierre told various US television channels on Sunday that those calling for new gun control laws were “gun-hating elites.” He also insisted that the Second Amendment to the US Constitution allows all citizens to possess weapons without license.

The NRA is also distributing a booklet titled “More guns, less Crime” in support of its suggestion that instead of curbing guns, the government should deploy 140,000 armed security guards at schools across America. The booklet argues that guns are merely tools that can be used by “good guys” or “bad guys.” But after the Newtown tragedy, the NRA finds itself in an increasingly isolated position. “We're not trying to take away your right to advance the interests of gun owners, hunters, people who want to protect themselves,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told an NRA supporter in an ABC News debate on Monday.

“But that's not an absolute right to encourage behaviour which causes things like Connecticut. In fact, Connecticut is because of some of their actions.”