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Many issues are being brought to light following the tragic school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

Among the topics being debated are gun control policies and mental health resources. Here's a look at how Washington is responding to this devastating event.

There is shock and sadness in Washington in the wake of the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. And, at the same time, some ideas are being floated, aimed at preventing the same kind of thing from happening again.

Outgoing Senator Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, has this recommendation:

"I think we need a national commission on mass violence. Not to be in place of anything else the President, the Congress, or state governments might want to do, but to make sure that the heartbreak and the anger that we feel now is not dissipated overtime or lost in legislative gridlock."

Lieberman is supported in that call for a national commission by democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois.

Also on the Sunday talk shows, Congressman Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah, says we need to explore what he calls the intersection of lethal weapons and mental health.

He also says violence and the media are major factors in this equation.

"We also have to deal with the new social ramifications of the bomboardment and the immediacy of social interaction between violence, the realism that you find in games and movies. Some people, young people, as they're making this transition from their teen years into adulthood, aren't able to mentally make that transition. And there does need to be help, but we're also going to need to look to families and communities and churches. It's not just a government solution."

Finally, former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge said Sunday the problem lies partly with issues of mental health and destructive behavior.