Steve Kerr and his Golden State Warriors were in Portland on Wednesday night for a date with the Trailblazers, but the head coach before the game expressed his thoughts on the mass shooting which occurred at a Florida high school earlier in the day.
The Wildcats legend said "It doesn't seem to matter to our government that children are being shot to death day after day in schools." But in a rather helpless time, Kerr assured "we can do something about it."
"We can vote people in who actually have the courage to protect people's lives," he said.
Steve Kerr’s powerful message on the shooting massacre in Florida. pic.twitter.com/Lo4k66JG4G
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) February 15, 2018
A 19-year-old man is accused of shooting and killing 17 people at his former high school in Parkland, Florida. Victims include students and staff.
The accused gunman was taken into custody soon after, confessed to police and has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.
Kerr has long been vocal on gun violence and the government's policies on gun control. He expressed frustration and advocated for stricter gun laws after the Orlando nightclub shooting in 2016, the Las Vegas shooting and the church shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas, both in 2017, among others.
Kerr's father was shot and killed in 1984, when Kerr was just a freshman at Arizona.
Here's a full transcript from Kerr on the Florida school shooting:
"Well nothing has been done. It doesn't seem to matter to our government that children are being shot to death day after day in schools. It doesn't matter that people are being shot at a concert, at a movie theater. It's not enough, apparently, to move our leadership, our government, people who are running this country, to actually do anything. That's demoralizing.
"But we can do something about it. We can vote people in who actually have the courage to protect people's lives and not just bow down to the NRA because they've financed their campaign for them. So, hopefully we'll find enough people, first of all, to vote good people in, but hopefully we can find enough people with courage to actually help our citizens remain safe and focus on the real safety issues, not building some stupid wall for billions of dollars that has nothing to do with our safety, but actually protecting us from what truly is dangerous, which is maniacs with semi-automatic weapons just slaughtering our children. It's disgusting."
Analyst Bill Walton was in Portland on Wednesday, and called Kerr "a giant among shriveling midgets out here who are cowering and afraid."
Bill Walton on Steve Kerr: "A giant among shriveling midgets out here who are cowering and afraid."
— Chris Martin Palmer (@ChrisPalmerNBA) February 15, 2018
