The Turkish American National Steering Committee (TASC) mourns the deaths of 13 who were killed and hopes for the speedy recovery of more than 24 injured in a mass shooting on Wednesday night at the Borderline, a country-western dance bar in Thousand Oaks, California. We pray for the victims and the wounded, and stand in solidarity with their families and friends, and all victims of mass shootings in America.
The Borderline Massacre was the 307th mass shooting in America in 2018. Since January 1, 2018, gun violence in America has killed 12,494 and injured 24,269 people. With the death of Officer Sgt. Ron Helus who confronted the gunman at the Borderline, since January 2018, 252 law enforcement officers have been shot or killed in America. This means that on average in 2018, every day 38 people have been killed and 73 people have been wounded in gun violence across America. An additional 22,000 suicides by guns are not included in these statistics.
The gunman, 28-year old, Ian Long, was a U.S. war veteran reportedly with PTSD. He had served in Afghanistan and Iraq. According to the National Institute of Health, 20% of veterans who fought in Iraq, 10% of veterans who fought in Afghanistan, and 10% of veterans who fought in the Gulf War suffer from serious PTSD associated with their experiences in war abroad. According to the Veterans Administration, on average 22 U.S. war veterans commit suicide every day.
Please see:
https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shooting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_veteran_suicide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_veteran_suicide; https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/docs/2016suicidedatareport.pdf
https://medlineplus.gov/magazine/issues/winter09/articles/winter09pg10-14.html
