NBA coach Steve Kerr widely praised for passionate gun control speech

NBA coach Steve Kerr has been widely praised for a passionate speech advocating for tighter gun control in the US following the horrific shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

Nineteen children and two adults were killed in the deadliest attack on an elementary school since the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Kerr, who is coach of the Golden State Warriors and former Chicago Bulls star, was one of the many people to speak out following the shooting with an impassioned message about the need for tighter gun regulations.

Refusing to answer questions on basketball, he said: “When are we going to do something. I’m tired. I am so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to the devastated families that are out there. I am so tired of the, excuse me, I am sorry, I am tired of the moments of silence. Enough!”

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Kerr is a long-term campaigner for gun control and has previously backed a bill that would introduce tighter background checks on the purchasing of firearms, which passed the US House of Representatives last year but did not get to the Senate. His father was also killed following a terrorist attack in Beirut in 1984.

He went on to address Senate minority leader Mitch McConnel by speaking down the camera.

“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. It’s what we do every week… It’s pathetic. I’ve had enough,”

Kerr’s speech was retweeted by the likes of Taylor Swift, who commented on the video by saying: “Filled with rage and grief, and so broken by the murders in Uvalde. By Buffalo, Laguna Woods and so many others.

“By the ways in which we, as a nation, have become conditioned to unfathomable and unbearable heartbreak. Steve’s words ring so true and cut so deep.”

Former basketball star Rex Chapman added: "On 18 January 1984, Steve Kerr’s father - Malcom - was shot and killed by two gunmen. Please take a moment. Pass it on if you feel it…"

Congressman Eric Swalwell said: "How much longer will Mitch McConnell and the GOP hold america hostage? Coach @SteveKerr is all of us right now."

The clip has already been watched more than 14 million times on Twitter alone.

Joe Biden told the nation it was time to “turn this pain into action” and change gun laws following the massacre.

“Why are we willing to live with this carnage?” he said at the White House. “Where in God’s name is our backbone, to have the courage to deal with this and stand up to the [gun] lobbies?”

The US has now had 199 mass shootings in the first 145 days of 2022.

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