Much of the nation was set to mark the passage of a week since last Friday, when a young Connecticut man fatally shot 27 people -- 20 of them children -- and then turned a gun on himself in a rampage that has breathed new life into the gun-control movement.

Church bells are to toll across the region at 9:30 a.m. and some websites plan to go dark in honor of the victims at the urging of Silicon Valley venture capitalist Ron Conway, who came up with the idea at a Christmas party attended by Gabby Giffords, the former Arizona congresswoman who was wounded in a 2011 shooting that killed six.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and Texas Gov. Rick Perry have called for residents of their states to pause to reflect one week after the shooting rampage. Perry also asked that churches ring their bells 26 times in honor of the victims at the school.

The observances are to come a day after President Barack Obama's administration put into motion an effort to change U.S. gun laws, less than a week after the Newtown, Connecticut, school shootings.

Vice President Joe Biden met with Cabinet members and law enforcement leaders at the White House to start formulating what Obama called "real reforms right now" in the wake of the shootings that killed 27 people -- including 20 children -- and the shooter himself.

"We have to take action, and there are a number of things ... we can immediately do," Biden said moments before the meeting began. "For anything to get done, we're going to need your advocacy."

Also Thursday, burials were held for three children and two teachers killed when Adam Lanza opened fire inside Sandy Hook Elementary School.

"It's an assembly line of wakes and funerals," said Lillian Bittman, former chairwoman of the Newtown School Board. "We can't even figure out which ones to go to. There are so many."

The assembly line stretched more than 2,200 miles west to Ogden, Utah, the hometown of shooting victim Emilie Parker. The town was festooned with pink ribbons as her parents brought her body back for burial.

"This sucks -- there's no reason for us to be here tonight," her father, Robbie Parker, told friends and well-wishers at a memorial service Thursday night. "And I'm so thankful for everybody that's here."