new York Steve Kerr, head coach of the famous Warriors from San Francisco, didn’t want to talk about basketball anymore: “When are we finally going to do something?” he asks the audience angrily while banging on the table. 650 miles away, an 18-year-old killed 19 children and at least two adults at an elementary school near San Antonio, Texas.
“I’m tired of minutes of silence,” Kerr clarifies. There are 50 senators who are currently refusing to pass the background checks before a gun purchase bill, which has been in place for two years. “And the reason for this is that they are afraid of their power,” the coach accuses.
“I ask you, Mitch McConnell, and the other senators who refuse to do anything about the violence in school and grocery store shootings: Do you want your own cravings for power over the lives of our children, our elders, and our churchgoers place? That’s what it looks like.” The Americans shouldn’t become dull in the face of this horror. “We can’t sit here and say, yeah, let’s have a minute’s silence.”
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The Warrior coach points out that 90 percent of Americans – regardless of party – want background checks. “But we’re being held hostage by 50 senators trying to secure their own power! It’s silly. I have enough!”
In his moving speech, Kerr echoed what many Americans are thinking: after each new killing spree, there are warm words, “thoughts and prayers”; after every bloody deed there are demands to do something. Many Democrats want more gun control. Most Republicans, on the other hand, defend their right to own guns and some even call for the teachers to be armed. But at least the House of Representatives had found a compromise with the background checks.
Biden: “When in God’s name are we going to stand up against the gun lobby?”
Since 2015, some retailers, such as Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods, have voluntarily removed assault rifles used in wars from their range. But the laws haven’t changed much.
As a nation, we must ask ourselves: When in God’s name are we going to stand up against the gun lobby? US President Joe Biden
The coach of the Texas Dallas Mavericks Jason Kidd also warned that “this can happen to anyone who is in a school”. Los Angeles Lakers basketball star LeBron James tweeted: “Something has to change. IT MUST!!”.
US President Joe Biden reacted shocked to the killing spree and called for stricter gun laws in his country in a televised speech. “As a nation, we have to ask ourselves: When in God’s name are we going to stand up against the gun lobby?” he asks.
Having just returned from his state visit to Asia, he addressed the public with emotional words. “Where is our backbone?” asked the US President with regard to the political debate about tougher gun laws. “The idea that an 18-year-old teenager can go to the store and buy two automatic rifles is just wrong,” he says. “What do you need an assault rifle for, other than to kill someone?”
More rampages
Former US President Barack Obama (60) also expressed his condolences to the relatives and expressed anger at the gun lobby. “Michelle and I mourn with the families in Uvalde” Obama wrote on Twitter. “You are experiencing pain that no one should endure.” He and his wife were angry, added the US Democrat, criticizing the opposition US Republicans in this context.
“Our country is paralyzed, not by fear, but by a gun lobby and political party that have shown no willingness to do anything to prevent these tragedies,” Obama said.
“When are we finally going to do something!” Steve Kerr, basketball coach of the famous Warriors from San Francisco, caused a great public sensation with his angry speech and spoke to all opponents of the liberal gun laws from the soul.
(Photo: AP)
Just a week ago, a gunman in Buffalo killed 13 people with an automatic rifle in a supermarket frequented primarily by blacks. In southern California, a gunman had shot at Asian churchgoers.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy appealed to his Senate colleagues from both parties: “What are we doing?” he asked in the US Congress. “Why do you spend so much time running for the United States Senate? Why bother getting this job when your answer is that while this carnage escalates and our children run for their lives, we do nothing?” he asked, clearly struggling. “Why are we here?”
“Work with us to find a way to pass legislation that makes this less likely,” the Democrat said. “I know my fellow Republicans will not agree with everything I advocate, but we can find common ground.”
“We don’t need more gun controls. We must find our way back to God”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called the recent killing spree “incomprehensible.” Abbott has always boasted of defending the right to private gun ownership against all odds.
It is far from certain whether there will really be a rethink this time. Republican MP Marjorie Taylor Greene, known for her controversial statements, sees no reason to restrict weapons more severely. “We don’t need more gun controls. We need to find our way back to God,” she tweeted.
The Texas governor is seen as an advocate of liberal gun laws. He will not deviate from his line even with the current bloody deed.
(Photo: AP)
Donald Trump Jr., the son of the former US President, shared a comment on his father’s social network “Truth” criticizing Biden’s foreign policy after the massacre: “Instead of sending $40 billion to corrupt foreign countries, we should use the money to get proper security for our schools.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, to whom Warriors coach Kerr appealed, also showed no understanding. He simply said, “The whole country is praying for the children, families, teachers and staff and emergency workers.”
Shooting sprees happen again and again in the USA – also in schools. Ten years ago, the massacre at an elementary school in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, in particular, shook the country: In December 2012, a 20-year-old with severe mental health problems in Newtown, Connecticut, first shot his mother and then 27 other people.
Biden said more than 900 other schools have died from gun violence since that event.
Last year, the FBI counted 61 gun shootings in the United States. The FBI announced on Monday evening (local time) in Washington that this was more than 50 percent more than in the previous year. The number has doubled since 2017. In 2021, 103 people were killed and 140 injured in rampages.
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