Crime & JusticeFeaturedHuman InterestNewsPoliticsUvalde Shooting

Warriors coach Kerr lambasts US gun laws after elementary school shooting

Los Angeles, May 25 (EFE).- Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, a widely respected voice in the NBA, launched an impassioned tirade against Republican senators following a massacre at a Texas elementary school in which 21 people were killed, including 19 children.

Kerr declined to discuss basketball during the Tuesday night press conference in Dallas, Texas, ahead of the Warriors’ playoff loss to the Mavericks and instead dedicated his focus to the shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

“We have children murdered at school. When are we gonna do something?” a visibly emotional Kerr said at the press conference. “I’m so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to the devastated families that are out there. I’m sorry, but I’m tired of the moments of silence. Enough.”

He highlighted the fact that this was the third shooting in the United States in the last 10 days, following the murder of 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket on May 14 and the hate-fueled shooting at a Taiwanese church in California on May 15, which left one dead and five injured.

Kerr took aim at Republican senators blocking legislation on background checks for gun owners, known as H.R.8, a bipartisan measure that has already been passed by Congress.

“There’s a reason they won’t vote on it – to hold on to power.”

The coach directed a message to Mitch McConell, the minority leader in the Senate, asking “are you going to put your own desire for power ahead of the lives of our children, of our elderly, of our children, of our churchgoers? Because that’s what it looks like.”

He cited a study by Morning Consult and Politico that suggested 90% of Americans, including 77% of Republicans, want background checks on gun purchasers in the US.

“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 onto their own power. It’s pathetic, I’ve had enough,” he said before leaving the conference abruptly.

Footage of the press conference went viral on social media.

The suspect in Tuesday’s shooting was named by authorities as Salvador Ramos, 18, who was shot dead by law enforcement officers at the scene. EFE

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