U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) released a statement on Saturday in support of the ‘March For Our Lives’ events organized across Connecticut, as part of rallies inspired by high school students in Parkland, Florida.

The senator has become a national leader on the issue of gun control since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook, and since his late-night senate filibuster on the issue following the Pulse Nightclub shooting.

In a statement distributed to March For Our Lives organizers in Connecticut Saturday morning, he said:

“Ninety people in this country die every single day from gun violence – a rate higher than any other industrialized nation in the world. Most politicians only pay attention when the mass tragedies happen, like Sandy Hook and Parkland, but the gun violence epidemic doesn’t take a day off. For kids in places like Hartford, Bridgeport, and New Haven, they live it every day. This is a uniquely American problem, and it’s not because we have more mental illness in this country – we don’t. It’s not because our schools are less secure – they’re not. It’s not because we spend less money on law enforcement – we don’t. It’s because it’s incredibly easy for dangerous people to get dangerous weapons, and because Congress refuses to do anything about it.

“Thank you to everyone who’s speaking out and marching today. Whether you support universal background checks, banning certain types of weapons, or want to have a conversation about how to address social isolation – or all that and more – there’s a place for you in this discussion. Stick with it because it’s going to be advocates like you who lead the way. I’ll be here to partner with you in any way that I can.”

Marches are taking place in Connecticut cities including Hartford, Stamford and Guilford. Others are planned for Old Saybrook, East Haddam, West Hartford, Shelton, Roxbury, Kent and Enfield. Murphy is expected to attend the Guilford and Hartford marches. Connecticut’s other senator, Richard Blumenthal, is attending marches in Enfield and Hartford and Westport.

A rally Saturday in Washington, D.C., is being anchored by students from Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people were killed in a Valentine’s Day shooting. Hundreds of other marches set for cities across the globe.