The Thousand Oaks shooting in California seems unforgettable to some, as it should be. Thousand Oaks marks the 307th shooting in 311 days in the United States. This averages to 311 shootings in 311 days, meaning each day in 2018 at least one person has died as a result of gun violence.
The Wednesday night massacre at the Borderline Bar and Grill, which left 13 people dead, including the gunman, became the nation’s latest mass shooting, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive, a not-for-profit organization that provides online public access to information about gun-related violence.
The incident was also the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. in 2018 since 17 classmates and teachers were gunned down at a school in Parkland, Florida on Valentine’s Day. On Thursday, Cameron Kasky, 17, lamented the pain of witnessing more bloodshed: “The Mayor of Thousand Oaks is completely right,” Kasky tweeted. “No community is truly safe from these mass shootings. We’ve seen this far too many times. How many anomalies are there going to be? How many times are we going to hear “nobody would’ve thought it would happen here?” Kasky also went to twitter to tweet how distraught he was over the recent mass shooting. See the tweet below:
Incredibly heartbroken thinking about what the people of Thousand Oaks are going through. Thankful for law enforcement for neutralizing the situation. I can’t even grasp the fact that 11 more innocent people are about to be buried.
— Cameron Kasky (@cameron_kasky) https://twitter.com/cameron_kasky/status/1060494915254263808?ref_src=tws…”>November 8, 2018
In all, 328 people have died from the 307 incidents, and 1,251 were injured, according to the data. The numbers include incidents in which four or more people were shot or killed, not including the shooters, according to the archive.
Photo via USA Today
The rampage also came during three weeks of hate and terror that have jolted the country: a bloodbath at a synagogue in Pittsburgh that left 11 elderly people dead, and a series of 16 pipe bombs mailed to prominent Democrats, CNN and critics of President Donald Trump.
2018 has seen several high-profile mass shootings: Five people were gunned down in the newsroom of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland on June 28. Ten were fatally shot at Santa Fe High School on May 18. Four people killed at a Waffle House in Nashville, Tennessee, on April 22. California’s previous worst 2018 mass shooting came on Sept. 12, when a Bakersfield man fatally shot five, including his wife, before killing himself.
Photo via CNN
With an average of one mass shooting a day, the question surrounding gun violence becomes more prominent than ever. The loss of lives in the United States has become such a common topic to hear about that it’s no wonder Americans seem to be desensitized to gun violence. So now the question becomes, “what’s it going to take?” What is it going to take before people decide against gun violence and for the lives of other people, what is it going to take before people decide that killing innocent people is not “hobby” or “pastime,” that these people have families who will be left suffering.
Photo via Gene J Puskar
Our prayers go out to all those who have lost their lives in the year of 2018 as a result of gun violence. We hope your deaths will not be in vain, and that soon, the idea of gun-related violence will become a distant memory.