Angry and shaken Steve Kerr on Tuesday night condemned senators, especially Republican leader Mitch McConnell, for failing to act on gun laws, hours after a gunman killed 18 children and at least one adult at an elementary school in the western Texas town of Uvalde.
“When are we going to do something?” Kerr, head coach of the Golden State Warriors, shouted during a news conference before his team was set to face the Dallas Mavericks in game 4 of the NBA Western Conference Finals. The teams played in Dallas, more than 300 miles from where the massacre took place.
“I ask you, Mitch McConnell, I ask all the senators who refuse to do anything about violence and school shootings and supermarket shootings – I ask you , are you going to put your aspirations for power before the lives of our children and our elderly and churchgoers?” he said. “Because that’s what it looks like.”
Kerr, who declined to discuss basketball in his speech, also referred to a mass shooting 10 days ago at a Buffalo grocery store where a racist gunman targeted the owner. predominantly black, as well as an attack on Asian parishioners at a church in California. investigated as a hate crime. Both occurred within the last two weeks.
He also mentioned HR8, a bill that would expand background checks on gun purchases. The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed it in 2019, but the measure would need to remove the 60-vote threshold in the equally divided Senate. Republicans, many of whom are backed by the National Rifle Association, have been successful in scrapping some attempts to impose gun access restrictions.
“We are being held hostage by 50 senators in Washington who even refuse to vote, despite what we, the American people, want,” Kerr said. “They won’t vote for it, because they want to hold their own power. It’s pathetic.” The coach banged the table for emphasis several times while begging.
Kerr made his remarks shortly before the President Joe Biden spoke nationally on Tuesday night. “We as a nation must ask ourselves when, in the name of God, we shall stand up in the hallway with guns. When in the name of God do we do what we know in our guts to do?” the president said.
The Golden State Warriors’ Official Twitter and YouTube accounts posted videos of Kerr’s emotional plea for real action on gun violence. Venture capitalist Joe Lacob is the majority owner of the team.
Kerr’s father, Malcolm Kerr, was killed by gunmen in Lebanon in 1984 while serving as president of the American University of Beirut. Coach and former NBA player often considers social issues and is an advocate for gun control.
“We can’t be numb to this,” Kerr said Tuesday night.
