Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, not long before his Warriors were set to face the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA’s Western Conference finals playoff series, gave an emotional plea for gun control after 18 children and three adults were killed Tuesday at a Texas elementary school.
The former NBA shooting guard took aim at politicians during his more than two-minute plea after he said he was “fed up” as a result of the shooting Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Kerr pounded his hand on the table and demanded action to stop mass shootings.
“Now we have children murdered at school,” Kerr said. “When are we going to do something?!
And the Warriors coach took aim at politicians and their inability to pass a bipartisan law that would make background checks mandatory for every gun sale.
“I’m so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to devastated families that are out there. I’m tired of excuses, I’m tired of moments of silence. Enough! There’s 50 senators who refuse to vote on HR-8, which is a background check rule that the House past two years ago.”
“They won’t vote on it because they want to hold onto their own power,” Kerr said. “It’s pathetic. I’ve had enough.”
HR8, a bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, has been passed by the House but remains in the Senate.
“I ask you: Are you going to put your own desire for power ahead of the lives of our children and our elderly and our churchgoers? Because that’s what it looks like. That’s what we do every week,” Kerr said.
“I’ve had enough. We’re going to play the game tonight. But I want every person here, every person listening to this, to think about your own child or grandchild, mother or father, sister, brother. How would you feel if this happened to you today?
“We can’t get numb to this.”
Kerr was 18 when he lost his father to gun violence. Malcolm Kerr was a university professor and president of the American University of Beirut when he was fatally shot outside his office in Lebanon Jan. 18, 1984.
His full remarks
“I’m not gonna talk about basketball. Nothing’s happened with our team in the last six hours. We’re gonna start the same way tonight. Any basketball questions don’t matter.
“Since we left shoot-around, 14 children were killed, 400 miles from here, and a teacher. And in the last 10 days we’ve had elderly Black people killed in a supermarket in Buffalo. We’ve had Asian churchgoers killed in Southern California. And now we have children murdered at school. When are we gonna do something?
“I‘m tired — I’m so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to the devastated families that are out there, I’m so tired of the — I’m so tired of the moments of silence. Enough.
“There’s 50 senators right now, who refused to HRA, which is a background check rule that the House (of Representatives) passed a couple years ago. It’s been sitting there for two years. And there’s a reason they won’t vote on it: To hold onto power.
“So I ask you, Mitch McConnell, I ask all of you senators who refuse to do anything about the violence and school shootings and supermarket shootings, I ask you: Are you going to put your own desire for power ahead of the lives of our children? And our elderly? And our churchgoers? Because that’s what it looks like. It’s what we do every week. So, I’m fed up, I’ve had enough, we’re gonna play the game tonight.
“But I want every person here, every person listening to this, to think about your own child or grandchild or mother or father or sister or brother: How would you feel if this happened to you today?
“We can’t get numb to this. We can’t sit here and just read about it and go, ‘Well, let’s have a moment of silence. Go Dubs.’ ‘Come on Mavs, let’s go.’ That’s what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna go play a basketball game. And 50 senators in Washington are gonna hold us hostage.
“You realize that 90 percent of Americans, regardless of political party, want background checks, universal background checks — 90 percent of us. We are being held hostage by 50 senators in Washington, who refuse to even put it to a vote, despite what we, the American people, want.
“They won’t vote on it, because they want to hold onto their own power. It’s pathetic. I’ve had enough.”
Mark Heim is a sports reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twutter @Mark_Heim.