Steve Kerr: Coach on gun laws allowing shootings: ‘The insanity has got to stop.
“We’re living in this bizarre denial where people just get slaughtered, and we just get stuck in this political battle that 90% of our country doesn’t even agree with or believe in. The insanity has got to stop.”
Steve Kerr
Instead of having advertising on the banner behind him during Tuesday’s pregame news conference, Steve Kerr sat in front of a digitally blacked out wall.
The only things in lights were the names of the 18 victims from the recent shootings in Atlanta and Boulder, Colo.
“We’re living in this bizarre denial where people just get slaughtered, and we just get stuck in this political battle that 90% of our country doesn’t even agree with or believe in,” the Warriors’ head coach said before his squad played Philadelphia. “The insanity has got to stop.”
A man killed 10 people in a shooting rampage at a Colorado grocery store Monday, just more than a week after eight people were killed by a gunman at three spas in the Atlanta area.
In an effort to switch the conversation from stats to humans, Kerr asked the Warriors to highlight the names of the 18 victims as he attended his leaguemandated pregame news conference.
“The thought of the mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, daughters and sons who are grieving right now with the loss of the people behind me is just devastating, particularly in the wake of what is just a common occurrence in our country and the inability of the representatives in our government to do anything about it,” Kerr said. “I’m just sort of at a loss for words at this point. We can’t just sit here and accept that we’re going to allow our fellow citizens to just mow each other down with weapons of war.
“It’s the most disgusting thing that exists within our country. It’s ridiculous. It’s disgusting. It’s devastating. There are so many people out there who are suffering. We have to do something about it.”
Gun control has been an issue near to Kerr’s heart since his father was assassinated while acting as the president of the American University of Beirut in 1984.
He’s consistently used his NBA money and platform to accelerate legislation that enhances gun control, including two bills approved by the House of Representatives last week that are aimed at adding background checks to gun purchases.
Neither has been voted on in the Senate.
“It’s just mindboggling to me,” Kerr said. “A lot of us are just angry. I think we all are, in this organization. We’re just sick and tired of it. … I think we’re sick and tired of the rhetoric out there.”
Kerr referenced The Onion, a satirical news organization, which repeats the headline “No Way To Prevent This, Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens” after each mass shooting in the United States.
He also mentioned the popular refrain: “This is the price of freedom.”
“When you see faces, when you see names, it personalizes it,” Kerr said. “You put it together and think about how many people are suffering, how many family members and friends. Not to mention how many lives were cut short, how many dreams were shattered. If we don’t humanize it, it just continues to be a statistic.
“It makes it much easier for the idiots out there to say: ‘This is the price of freedom.’ ”