SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO – Golden State Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr expressed outrage and exasperation in the aftermath of a deadly elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, telling reporters before Game 4 of the Western Conference finals that he has "had enough" of mass shootings and congressional inaction on gun violence.
Kerr, who has used his platform as an NBA coach to outspokenly advocate for gun control, said Tuesday at the American Airlines Center in Dallas – some 350 miles away from Robb Elementary School, where officials said a gunman killed at least 19 children and two adults – that he was "so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to the devastated families that are out there."
"I'm tired of the moments of silence," Kerr said. "Enough!"
The 56-year-old slammed the table in front of him at multiple points, telling reporters he wouldn't "talk about basketball" ahead of the Warriors having a chance to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2019.
Kerr, whose father was killed by gunmen at the American University of Beirut in 1984, walked out of the press room without answering questions, telling reporters it was "pathetic" the U.S. Senate had not voted on a bill passed in the House of Representatives last March that would expand background checks for gun purchases.
"And there's a reason they won't vote on it, to hold on to power," Kerr said of 50 Republican senators he argued are holding the country "hostage" with their refusal to vote on and pass the bill.
"So I ask you, (Senate Minority Leader) Mitch McConnell, I ask all of you senators who refuse to do anything about the violence, and school shootings and supermarket shootings," Kerr continued, "I ask you: Are you going to put your own desire for power ahead of the lives of our children, and are elderly and our churchgoers? Because that's what it looks like."
A day after the Warriors advanced to the Western Conference finals on May 13, a white teenager shot and killed 10 Black shoppers and workers in a racist attack at a Buffalo, New York grocery store.
Two days before the Warriors opened the Western Conference finals against the Dallas Mavericks on May 18, a man killed one and injured five others in a shooting at a Southern California church.
Kerr invoked both shootings, as well as Tuesday's in Texas, as he pleaded for action.
"How would you feel if this happened to you today?" Kerr asked. "We can't get numb to this. We can't just sit here and read about it and go, 'Oh, well, let's have a moment of silence. Yeah, go Dubs! Come on, Mavs! Let's go.' That's what we're gonna do. We're gonna play a basketball game. And 50 senators in Washington are gonna hold us hostage."
A Morning Consult/POLITICO issued before the House passage last year of the bill, known as H.R. 8, found that 84% of voters supported background checks for all gun purchasers. Ninety percent of voters supported it nearly two years prior.
"We are being held hostage by 50 senators in Washington who refuse to put it to a vote, despite what we the American people want," Kerr said. "They won't vote on it because they want to hold on to their own power! It's pathetic! I've had enough!"
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