Kerr hosts Douglas students

MIAMI — Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr hosted students and faculty members from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School at Wednesday morning’s shootaround at AmericanAirlines Arena in advance of his team’s game against the Miami Heat, inspired by their message in the wake of last year’s horrific shootings in Parkland.

“I mean just try to put yourself in their shoes and can’t imagine, at any age, to have to go through that at 14, 15, 16 years old,” he told reporters while seated courtside. “You imagine someone walking in right now and starts spraying us with a semi-automatic weapon. It’s horrifying that they had to go through that.”

Kerr has delivered several rebukes in favor of gun control in the wake of the massacre.

“So we have to decide as a country do we want to do anything about it?” he said. “The answer is pretty simple, in my mind. Yes, we want to do something about it.

“The fortunate thing is the young people leading this drive are going to be much more impactful than old people like me. And it’s true. Older people have been trying to do something, but haven’t made the impact that the next generation of the country wants from them.”

He said it is easy to draw inspiration from the movement that has grown behind the impetus from the Douglas students.

“So, I’m really proud of what they’re doing,” he said. “They’re starting this grassroots organization. They’re starting chapters all over the country. And they’re trying to do something that we all should be involved, is to protect each other.

“It doesn’t mean getting rid of the Second Amendment. It means getting semi-automatic weapons out of the hands of mentally-ill people. It means having background checks. It means really investigating what’s important in our country. Do we need to see high-capacity magazines? Is that really necessary? Does that fall under the Second Amendment? These are all really difficult questions.”

Ones, he said, an aware generation is willing to ask.

“But one thing I know is that our citizens’ safety should be priority number one,” he said, “and that young people are going to win.”