Ashton Kutcher is calling for stronger gun reform after revealing that he had celebrated his birthday at Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, California, where gunman Ian David Long opened fire Wednesday night, killing 12 people.
In a series of tweets Thursday, the actor revealed how closely the Wednesday night shooting affected him and his wife, Mila Kunis, as they had previously celebrated his February birthday at the venue.
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“My wife threw me a birthday party this year at the Borderline,” Kutcher revealed. “Only reason we are alive is the shooter chose a different night. My heart goes out to the victims. I’ll say it again… Gun Reform now! Politicians need to stop standing behind the dollar and Protect the people!”
Kutcher, who stated in his tweets that he grew up around guns and was a hunter, appealed to Ivanka Trump, whose brother-in-law had attended the birthday party.
“@IvankaTrump, your brother-in-law was at that birthday party. He could have just as easily been a victim,” he wrote. “You go to synagogues, you could be a victim! Talk to your dad! Plead with your dad! Let this be your legacy! Gun Reform now!”
Kutcher went on to state that while he doesn’t wish for people’s guns to be taken away, common sense gun laws should be enacted and mental health initiatives should be supportive, as both are crucial to solving the gun violence issue in America.
“This isn’t an either/or it’s a both! Support mental health initiatives & support Gun Reform Now!!” he wrote. “My friend gave me a gun as a gift in the parking lot of the borderline on my birthday. I’ve never shot it. I don’t think I ever will. [Love] to the families of the lost. Change is coming.”
The actor was not the only celebrity to have such a close call. Lee Ann Womack’s daughter, country singer Aubrie Sellers, had been set to perform at Borderlne Bar & Grill Wednesday night, though she canceled due to a medical issue with her cat.
The shooting, reported to be the 307th mass shooting in 2018, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive, occurred during the bar’s college country night. The gunman, a war veteran, opened fire with a Glock 21, a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun, after throwing smoke bombs into the venue at around 11:20 p.m. on Wednesday. A total of 13 people, including Long, were killed, and at least 23 were injured.
Among the victims was Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus, a 29-year veteran, Tamera Mowry Housley and Adam Housley’s 18-year-old niece, Alaina Housley, and 27-year-old Telemachus Orfanos, who had survived October 2017 Route 91 Harvest country music festival mass shooting, the deadliest gun massacre in modern American history.
