25,000 People (And Counting) Flood White House With Online Petition To ‘Immediately Address’ Gun Control

Update: The petition has reached 25,000 signatures

Almost immediately following the tragic school shooting in Connecticut, over 16,000 people have signed an official White House WeThePeople petition to “Immediately address the issue of gun control through the introduction of legislation in Congress.” Signatures seem to be increasing rapidly in speed, in what could be the fastest petition in the site’s history.

“The goal of this petition is to force the Obama Administration to produce legislation that limits access to guns. While a national dialogue is critical, laws are the only means in which we can reduce the number of people murdered in gun related deaths.”

According to WeThePeople guidelines, if 25k signatures are reached, the White House will issue an official response. While there are no guarantees that WeThePeople petitions will influence policy, the White House set up the online petitioning system to explore the urgency of issues through a more democratic medium. Given the extraordinary pace of this petition, it could influence the White House to make more expedient policy on gun control.

View the petition here and watch President Obama tearfully address the incident earlier today: