In the aftermath of an elementary school shooting in Connecticut that left 27 people dead, including 20 children, thousands of citizens have formally called on the federal government to address the issues of gun control, gun violence and mental illness.
Within hours of the latest school massacre, six petitions were created on the White House’s website today calling for the president to address issues related to mass shootings. All the petitions had at least 200 signatures as of 4:30 p.m. EST, and one had garnered more than 5,000.
The first petition called on the Obama administration to “immediately address the issue of gun control through the introduction of legislation in Congress,” requesting legislation to change the way citizens obtain guns.
Other topics focused primarily on starting a conversation about gun control. One request called for mental health to be declared a “national emergency” to prevent future shooting such as today’s issue at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. and the shooting earlier this year at a movie theater in Aurora Colo.
The mental health petition also said gun control needed to be discussed.
One petition read:
We ask that President Obama form a commission of appointed citizens to explore meaningful steps we as a nation can take to control and reduce gun violence. The commission would have a time limit to develop recommendations that would be forwarded to Congress for review and action.
The petitions each have one month to accumulate 25,000 digital signatures in order to garner a formal response from the White House.