Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Politicians, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, are calling for Walmart to stop selling guns.

This week, roughly 30 Walmart employees took part in a planned walkout to protest the retailer's gun sales, Thomas Marshall, who organized the walkout, told Business Insider. A petition for the retail giant to stop selling guns has more than 54,000 signatures as of Friday.

Read more: Walmart corporate employee who urged gun sales protest says 30 people walked off the job in support. Now he's sending a petition with 46,000 signatures to the CEO.

"We have one demand, and that is all," the petition reads. "We value Walmart and our fellow associates, but we are no longer willing to contribute our labor to a company that profits from the sale of deadly weapons."

Now politicians are joining in, calling for Walmart to change its gun policy.

"When workers lead, people win," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Thursday, along with a link to an article on Marshall and other employees protesting Walmart's continued gun sales.

Warren tweeted on Friday: "Companies that sell guns have a responsibility to the safety of their communities. @Walmart is one of the largest gun retailers in the world. The weapons they sell are killing their own customers and employees. No profit is worth those lives."

"Walmart should respect the voices of its workers who are calling on the company to stop selling guns. I agree," Sanders tweeted on Friday. "This is exactly why I believe workers deserve representation on their board, so that their views are heeded."

Walmart has not indicated any plans to stop selling guns after two deadly shootings in its stores killed 24 people, including two Walmart employees. The Walmart representative Randy Hargrove told Business Insider on Friday that there has been "no update to our current policy on firearms."

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said on Tuesday that the company would be "thoughtful and deliberate" in its response.

"We're a learning organization, and we'll work to understand the many important issues arising from El Paso and Southaven as well as those raised in the broader national discussion around gun violence," McMillon said in a note addressed to Walmart employees that was posted on LinkedIn on Tuesday. "We'll be thoughtful and deliberate in our responses, and will act in a way that reflects our best values and ideals, focused on the needs of our customers, associates and communities."

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