In the wake of the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., record-setting numbers have signed online petitions urging that the federal government take action to halt gun violence.

Shortly after the deadly shooting of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School, a man identified as "David G" posted an online petition calling on the White House to "immediately address the issue of gun control through the introduction of legislation in Congress."

Within hours, the petition, which was created on the White House " We the People" site, had surpassed the 25,000 electronic signatures required for the Obama administration to review the request. On Monday, it broke the record, becoming the petition with the most signatures ever submitted to the site.

As of midday today, the petition had 176,828 signatures and counting.

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It's not just the White House that's seeing an outpouring of public activism. A record-setting 1,017 petitions have been submitted to Change.org related to Sandy Hook Elementary and gun safety.

The petitions range from a request for Walmart to stop advertising assault weapons in their circulars to calls for the President to support stricter gun laws.

President Obama has called for "meaningful action" to prevent future tragedies like Sandy Hook from occurring and has pledged to "use whatever power this office holds" to do so.

While the White House has offered few details on how the president plans to curb gun violence, Obama has initiated discussions with members of his cabinet to begin looking at ways the country can respond to the tragedy.