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For one night at least, in the same high school auditorium where President Obama comforted the victims of Sandy Hook and issued his call for action on guns, the legislative muddle of competing lobbies and gun agendas was washed away by the grief of Sandy Hook and demands for measures to make sure something like it never happens again.

David Wheeler, who lost his son, Benjamin, on Dec. 14, told a state legislative panel studying gun violence, mental health and school safety that his first-grade son died because an unstable suicidal individual "had access to a weapon that has no place in a home."

At the end of his three-minute remarks, he told a panel that Thomas Jefferson said government was instituted to protect our unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. He said that those words and their order were no accident.

"The liberty of any person to own a military-style assault weapon and a high-capacity magazine and keep them in their home is second to the right of my son to his life," he said. "His life, to the right to live of all of those children and those teachers, the rights of your children, of you, of all of us. Let's honor the founding documents and get our priorities straight."

Testimony included repeated calls for improved mental health services and reflections on the responsibilities of parents. But the main focus was on the weapons used at Sandy Hook and in other mass slayings in the United States.

Brad Greene, who spoke surrounded by supporters of an antigun march scheduled for Feb. 14 in Hartford, said he and others had received a chilling education in the nation's gun laws.

"We have come away appalled at what our laws allow," he said. "We are incredulous at the type of assault and semiautomatic weapons and magazine clips that are considered legal. What is the logic behind allowing anyone with a wad of cash to buy an arsenal without a background check? It's beyond our comprehension."

Unlike the committee's first hearing on Monday in Hartford, at which gun rights supporters from across the state turned out in force, proponents of gun control in green ribbons and stickers reading "We Demand Change Now" were by far the most conspicuous presence — both in testimony and in the audience, which filled the Newtown High School auditorium. And local officials and residents, still scarred by the tragedy, demanded it lead to change, no matter how hard the legislative obstacles.

Susie Ehrens, whose daughter, Emma, escaped from the school, appealed to the legislators to act as if it were their own children who did not come home alive that day.

"We are Americans," she said. "We stop being the world's greatest country when we allow our most vulnerable citizens to be slaughtered because we might offend people by taking away their guns. We stop being something to be proud of when we love our guns more than we love our children."

Jim Gaston, a member of the Newtown Board of Selectmen, said he was a gun owner, owned rifles and enjoyed shooting.

"As a gun owner and someone who enjoys the sport," he said, "I can assure you there is absolutely no reason that civilians need to have or should have access to high-powered assault weapons or mega-magazines."

After the families, officials and school personnel testified, other members of the public spoke against new gun rules as well as for them.

David Barzetti said his 5-year-old son played with Jesse Lewis, one of the children who was killed. He said he understood the anguish over gun issues but did not believe more laws were needed.

"We are divided into two groups, one that thinks if we keep people from owning guns it can stop another 12/14 from happening," he said, referring to the date of the shooting. "The other group wants to protect ourselves from others like Adam Lanza."

He said gun control laws did not reduce crime and that gun owners should have choices of what weapons to own. "Obviously we don't need an assault rifle to kill a deer, but we also don't need to take away a 500-horsepower vehicle from an owner who wants to own a high-powered vehicle. That's their choice."

There were some vivid windows into the horror Dec. 14. Mary Ann Jacob, a school staff member, recalled the way it began as a routine Friday morning, how Victoria Soto, one of the teachers, grumbled that it was a bad day because she had spilled her coffee. Then came strange sounds that Ms. Jacob could not decipher until it became clear that hundreds of bullets were rocketing through the school.

"Make no mistake," she said. "If there was a police officer in our building that day, he would be dead. Adam Lanza did not knock on the door and ask for permission to come in. He shot his way through the door barely seconds after he got out of his car."

She added, "Nobody needs a gun that can kill 26 people and shoot hundreds of rounds of ammunition in three minutes."