Whether it’s mass shootings fueled by racism, rage against women, homophobia, extremist ideologies, or mental illness, I shudder to think about what it says about us as a nation if we don’t even attempt to make a good faith effort to end this carnage. That is why yesterday morning, at around 11 a.m., I decided to stand on the Senate floor and talk about the need to prevent gun violence for as long as I could. And I am proud to announce that after nearly 15 hours of holding the floor, we will have a vote to expand background checks for gun purchases. This is an idea supported by more than 90 percent of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, Independents, gun owners and even NRA members. Orlando is the worst mass shooting in American history.…Having personally seen the devastating impact mass shootings can have on entire communities, I’ve had enough. Add your name if you have, as well.

I've never been more proud to be a constituent of CT than today, watching my Senators Murphy and Blumenthal live on the Senate floor, filibustering the Senate to take action on common-sense gun safety measures that most Americans support. I live next door to Sandy Hook, CT and am committed to garnering the collective will to empower systemic action in the wake of mass deadly shootings in public sanctuaries that we hope our families, neighbors, and friends could gather and associate freely in civil safety once more.

The consequences of climate change are escalating, and momentum is building across the nation for meaningful action. In order to swiftly reduce carbon pollution, we call for a national price on carbon that returns the revenue as regular checks to benefit American households. Experts agree that we need a price on carbon to stabilize the climate. Carbon pricing is the most straightforward way to ensure that the true cost of dirty energy is reflected in the marketplace. As taxpayers, we are forced to pay the costs of climate change when hit by extreme weather, droughts, wildfires, food shortages, and more. A price on carbon shifts the burden of these unfair costs to those who are responsible for--and can reduce--greenhouse gas pollution. A strong price on carbon levels the playing field for low-carbon, sustainable energy like wind and solar, and it promotes investments in emission reduction technologies. It unleashes American innovation and stimulates new, low-carbon drivers of economic growth. Finally, a carbon price that returns revenue back to households in the form of a dividend will protect low and middle-income families, bring together both sides of the political aisle, and build voter support over time to ensure a solution that is built to last.

This filibuster is just getting underway. It is important that the good Senator from Connecticut know of our support and gratitude.

Until equality is constitutionally guaranteed for women, it is outrageous to require women to register for the draft. Fix that, then proceed.

Beekeepers lost an average of 44 percent of their colonies last year—even more than the year prior. Other research out this year indicates that native bees are declining, too. Why are the bees still dying? Largely thanks to bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides! Bees are responsible for every one in three bites of food we eat, so we can’t afford to keep losing them. The EPA has the power to help bring back bee populations by restricting the use of bee-toxic pesticides. This June, beekeepers, farmers, and people like you are coming together for the “Keep the Hives Alive Tour.” We’re driving around the country with a truck full of dead bees in order to raise awareness about the plight of pollinators and how toxic pesticides contribute to their decline. The tour will end in Washington, DC on June 22nd with a large demonstration in front of EPA to urge the agency to take action on toxic pesticides and support sustainable agriculture. We must ramp up pressure on the EPA to act NOW. We’re aiming to reach 2 million petition signatures by June 22nd, but we need your help to reach our goal! What’s stopping the EPA from taking action? The pesticide industry. The pesticide industry is doing everything it can to protect its profits. We know the EPA is hearing from Bayer, Syngenta, and other major agro-chemical companies that spend millions of dollars on PR campaigns to shift the blame away from pesticides—despite a wealth of research linking pesticides to bee declines. We need YOUR help to tell EPA to stop dragging its feet and take strong action on bee-killing pesticides. We need to turn up the heat to make sure the harmful effects from these pesticides are eliminated once and for all. The EPA needs to hear from you—not just Bayer and other companies massively profiting from these toxic pesticides. This June we have the ability to do just that – help us make your voices heard! Tell the EPA it needs to do its job and protect bees, the planet, and all of us from pollinator-killing pesticides NOW!

Chris and the other victims deserve Justice, and that Justice can only be that William Levea is not allowed Parole.

Over a dozen wanted fugitives and even those under domestic violence restraints are allowed to buy guns. Responsible people should be allowed to buy and sell guns, but we need to stop guns from falling into the wrong hands. How do we expect to stop mass shootings when we're practically handing them the guns?

1 hater + 1 military style assault weapon = 49 killed, 53 wounded, infinite heartache. Because he had easy access to a military style assault weapon, a man filled with hate turned a place of celebration and joy for Orlando’s LGBT community into a scene of devastation and loss. This is one of the worst mass shooting in America, with 49 shot dead and 53 wounded, many of them young Latinos just beginning their lives. Such mass shootings have been increasing. We say: Enough. We demand that Congress act to stop the carnage now: Military style assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines, which make such shootings possible and so deadly, have no place on our streets. They are made for battlefields, not our schools or our churches or our gathering places. We do not agree that we are powerless to stop these tragedies. We are a caring, can-do nation and it’s time to put aside partisan biases and prioritize our dying young people. We demand that Congress step up to the plate at last and pass an effective ban on civilian use of these weapons. H.R. 4269 was introduced by Rep. David N. Cicilline of Rhode Island and currently has 125 cosponsors.

The recent remarks by Pastors Roger Jimenez of the Verity Baptist Church of Sacramento California and Stephen Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church of Tempe Arizona in support of the killing of LGBT's in the wake of the Orlando shootings are both hate speech and incitement. No individual church that supports such positions nor any umbrella organization that tolerates such views should receive any aid - either direct or indirect - from any branch of government. To continue to provide tax exemptions to such organizations is to indirectly subsidize them via our tax dollars when instead we need to condemn and oppose such support.

After the devastating mass shooting in Orlando, citizens across the country are once again demanding that their leaders act decisively. As your constituent and a resident of a state that benefits from gun control laws, I ask that you truly represent Hawaii and our district by co-sponsoring this common sense legislation, which keeps weapons of war out of our communities.

When automobile deaths were on the rise, our government funded research to make cars/driving safer and the number of annual deaths was reduced. The same should hold for guns. The CDC has attempted before to collect data on gun violence, but the US Congress (backed by the NRA) stood in its way. It's time that research was funded, that data collected. I started this petition in hopes of helping to prevent future mass shootings resulting in the loss of innocent American lives.