Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr on Tuesday gave an impassioned plea for gun reform hours after a shooter killed 19 children and two adults at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. The gunman was later killed by police.
During a news conference ahead of Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Mavericks, Kerr refused to talk about basketball. Instead, he pivoted toward addressing the massacre – which happened less than two weeks after the Buffalo supermarket shooting.
“When are we going to do something? I am so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to the devastated families that are out there,” said Kerr, who was visibly frustrated. “I’m so tired of the excuse, I’m so tired of the moments of silence. Enough!”
Kerr also condemned senators for holding Americans “hostage” and refusing to vote on a bill passed by the House two years ago that would enforce stricter background checks, despite polls showing majority support for it.
“There’s a reason they won’t vote on it — to hold onto power,” Kerr said. “So I ask you, [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell, I ask all of you senators who refuse to do anything about the violence in 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,” he continued. “I’ve had enough… I want every person here, every person listening to this to think about your own child or grandchild or mother or father or sister, brother. How would you feel if this happened to you today? We can’t get numb to this.”
Kerr is an ardent advocate for stronger gun control, previously speaking out on the Parkland shooting in 2018. His father – a president of American University of Beirut – was assassinated by a terrorist group when he was 18 years old. The tragedy shaped the way he uses his platform to speak on political issues, according to his 2019 interview with “60 Minutes.”
