Golden State Warriors coach, Steve Kerr, made an impassioned plea for change following the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday.
“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 of the – I’m sorry – I’m tired of the moments of silence. Enough,” he said during a press conference before his team played the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Western Conference finals.
As of Wednesday morning, officials report that 19 students and 2 teachers were killed when an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at the school, police first reported that 14 children had died.
“Since we left shootaround, 14 children were killed 400 miles from here, and a teacher,” he said at the start of the Q&A Tuesday evening, after revealing that he would not be addressing any questions related to the sport. “Any basketball questions don’t matter.”
During the emotional moment, Kerr called for stricter gun laws, referencing the May 14 mass shooting in Buffalo, NY where 10 people were killed at a grocery store, and the shooting in Laguna Woods, Calif. the following day where one person died, and four others were left critically injured.
“Now we have children murdered at school. When are we gonna do something?” He said, raising his voice and pound on the table in front of him.
The head coach was visibly shaken up during the speech.
“There’s 50 senators right now who refuse to vote on H.R. 8 which is a background check rule that the House passed a couple of years ago. It’s been sitting there for two years. And there’s a reason they won’t vote on it – to hold on to power.”
“So I ask you, Mitch McConnell, I ask all of you senators who refuse to do anything about the violence and 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. That’s what we do every week,” Kerr continued as he seemed to grow more upset.
According to Esquire, the 56-year-old’s father, Malcolm Kerr, who was the president of the American University of Beirut, was fatally shot by two men outside his office in 1984.
“I’m fed up, I’ve had enough. We’re gonna play the game tonight, but I want every person here, every person listening to this, to think about your own child, or grandchild, or mother, father, sister, brother – how would you feel if this happened to you today? We can’t get numb to this. We can’t sit here and just read about it and go ‘Well, let’s have a moment of silence, yeah, go Dubbs. Come on Mavs, let’s go,'” he explained.
“That’s what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna play a basketball game. And 50 senators in Washington are gonna hold us hostage. Do you realize that 90 percent of Americans, regardless of political party, want universal background checks? We are being held hostage by 50 senators in Washington who refuse to even put it to a vote despite what we, the American people, want. They won’t vote on it because they want to hold on to their own power. It’s pathetic, I’ve had enough,” Kerr said as he walked out on the press conference.
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