On Sunday evening, San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich joined with one of his players, Pau Gasol, in openly discussing the devastating Sutherland Springs shooting that took place over the weekend only an hour outside of San Antonio. Popovich’s decision to bring the topic to light in the aftermath of a basketball game comes as no surprise given his reputation in speaking out on social and political issues, but on Monday evening, Warriors coach and former Popovich pupil Steve Kerr also elected to share his thoughts.
Kerr was prompted specifically about gun control and he spoke in wide-ranging terms. Anthony Slater of The Athletic brings word of his statements.
“First I want to express my condolences to the people involved, the victims, the survivors, the people directly affected. It’s just awful. that’s the prevailing sentiment from all of us today. To solve it, I think we almost have to look at it like a public health issue. Too often, we get caught up in political rhetoric, second amendment rights, NRA stuff. We have to look at this as it having nothing to do with partisanship, political parties. It’s got to be a public safety issue, a public health issue.”
The always insightful head coach went on to compare current gun control to the automobile industry from previous decades, commenting on the changes to upgrade safety with regard to seat belts and overall tougher restrictions on who is allowed to drive cars across the country. Then, Kerr pivoted again to discuss what he described repeatedly as a “safety issue.”
“All these things are safety issues and I think we somehow get our government cut through all the crap and get right to the point — the point of fact, which is safety. Which means a lot of things we can do without taking away people’s 2nd amendment rights. Let’s do the sensible thing. But our government has to lead the way and they can’t just cave into the NRA just because they want to make money. They have to put people’s safety and health over the interest of the gun lobby and the gun industry. It doesn’t seem like it would be that far of a stretch. But for whatever reason, we’re paralyzed and unable to do anything to protect our citizens. It’s disgusting and it’s a shame.”
Of course, none of Kerr’s sentiments are unique to him within the overall consciousness. Still, it is a reminder that this is an NBA head coach speaking at length about a divisive political issue and that was not a “normal” occurrences just months ago.
