Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr speaks during a news conference on May 24.GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS/Reuters
Steve Kerr did not want to talk about basketball.
The head coach of the Golden State Warriors refused to talk about his team at a pre-game news conference in Dallas Tuesday. Instead, he called for stricter gun controls in the wake of the shooting in Uvalde, Tex., that killed at least 19 children.
Speaking in the early afternoon before Game 4 of the Mavericks-Warriors series, an emotional Mr. Kerr made a plea to U.S. lawmakers to “do something” about gun violence.
“Since we left shootaround, 14 children were killed 400 miles from here, and a teacher,” he said. “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 going to do something?” he said angrily. “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. Excuse me. I’m sorry. I’m tired of the moments of silence. Enough!”
Mr. Kerr, who spoke before authorities said the death toll included 19 children and two adults, urged Congress to mandate background checks for gun purchases, directly mentioning HR-8, or House Resolution 8. The legislation passed the U.S. House of Representatives in March, 2021, but has not yet been voted on in the Senate.
“I’m fed up. I’ve had enough,” he said. “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?”
What we know so far about the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Texas
Mr. Kerr has long been an outspoken advocate of tighter gun laws. In 1984, his father was assassinated outside his office in Beirut, where he served as a university president. After a deadly shooting in Virginia Beach that killed 12 and wounded four in 2019, Mr. Kerr wore a “Vote For Our Lives” T-shirt during a pre-game news conference.
“The shirt’s a reminder that the only way we can get out of this mess is to actually vote – and to vote for people who are going to be willing to create some change in our gun laws in our country,” he said at the time.
The Texas rampage stands as the deadliest school shooting since a gunman killed 26 people, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in December, 2012. Authorities said an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at an elementary school in Uvalde, about 130 kilometres west of San Antonio, before he was killed by police officers.
With files from the Associated Press and Reuters.
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