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Over the course of 2012, Twitter has been a powerful tool for political change. Sparking conversation on the presidential election, facilitating political protests abroad, and fueling conversations on healthcare, it has been instrumental in shaping the political dialogue.

In the days following the tragic shooting in Connecticut, communities of online users have gathered on social media to voice their concerns with current gun policy and call on President Obama and members of Congress to act on gun control. In an effort to comprehend the heinous crimes that took place on Friday, leaders, celebrities, and citizens take to Twitter to not only criticize current policy, but to demand action.

Below are the top five tweets demanding action on gun control:

1. Receiving over 3,200 retweets, New York Mayor Bloomberg asked his followers to #DemandAPlan to end gun violence in America:

Join me in calling on Washington to take immediate action to end gun violence #DemandAPlan bit.ly/TkqWqa (Please RT)

— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) December 15, 2012

In a petition to President Obama and members of Congress, the Campaign of Mayors Against Illegal Guns voiced their frustration over Press Secretary Carney’s statement on Friday that “today is not the day.”

The petition reads: “We say, Now IS the Time to talk about guns.  Now IS the time to prevent more pointless deaths. Now IS the time to Demand A Plan to End Gun Violence.”

The bipartisan coalition shared their message that keeping guns out of dangerous hands should be a top priority:

We disagree with @presssec: #NowIsTheTime to talk about guns. Share if you agree. #SandyHook twitter.com/maigcoalition/…

— Demand A Plan (@DemandAPlan) December 15, 2012

2. Actor Zach Braff asks his almost one million followers on the social platform to take action now on gun control, directing them to the US House of Representatives contact page:

Stop tweeting. Take action. m.house.gov

— Zach Braff (@zachbraff) December 14, 2012

3. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has been tweeting out statistics about gun related violence in America since Friday:

More Americans die from guns in 6 months than from 25 yrs of terrorism & Iraq, Afghan wars combined nyti.ms/U12J9D

— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) December 15, 2012

Gunnies noting that even gun-restricting Norway had a massacre. True. But in typical year, only 5 gun murders in Norway.

— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) December 15, 2012

4. Rupert Murdoch also took to Twitter to share his concern, generating over 2,700 retweets with this message:

Terrible news today. When will politicians find courage to ban automatic weapons?As in Oz after similar tragedy.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) December 15, 2012

5. In light of Friday’s shooting, the Gun Control Organization has been active in their pleas for action, using the social network to further spread their message in the wake of the tragedy:

WH petition almost at 100K signatures: “Immediately address issue of gun control through introduction of legislation” wh.gov/RN6U

— CSGV (@CSGV) December 15, 2012

For more, here’s the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #DemandAPlan:
Tweets about “#DemandAPlan”