Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has never been afraid to share his views on topics beyond sports, especially when it comes to political issues like gun violence. Kerr and his family are victims or gun violence, as his father was killed at American University in Beirut in 1984.
Kerr has been active on Twitter in the wake of two tragic mass shootings over the weekend and, on Monday, he spoke to Mark Medina of the Bay Area News Group in candid fashion about his fears and what he believes about gun control.
“I think about it all the time. Somebody could walk in the door in the gym right now and start spraying us with an AR-15,” Kerr said on Monday. “They could. It might happen because we’re all vulnerable, whether we go to a concert, a church, the mall or go to the movie theatre or a school. It’s up to us as Americans to demand change from the gutless leadership that continues to allow this to happen and continues to somehow claim the second amendment is doing its job. The second amendment is about the right to defend yourself. The only thing that second amendment is doing is leading to mass murder right now. This is all just insanity.”
Kerr did share a positive message of belief that change is coming, saying that the “momentum is building” for action after he believes “the vast majority of people in this country have had it” with the way things are operating. Still, he wasn’t done sharing his thoughts on the current state of the gun control argument and the inactivity when it comes to passing lawful measures.
“A lot of my friends have had guns. They’ve had them in gun lockers. It was kept safely away. They weren’t carrying around AR-15’s,” Kerr said. “They had hunting rifles. This is not what it’s about. This is not about someone’s ability to own a gun. “It’s about someone’s ability to have a military style assault rifle with huge magazines. The cops got there in Dayton in one minute after the shooting started. In one minute, the shooter was killed from what I gather. But he killed nine people in one minute because of the gun and the weapon he had. We’re really going to say as Americans we should allow him to carry an AR-15? It’s ridiculous.”
Kerr continues to speak out in a fashion that many NBA coaches wouldn’t approach but, in this time when the line between sports and social/political issues is as blurry as ever, he won’t be alone in putting a voice to this kind of viewpoint.
