NBA legend Steve Kerr makes emotional gun control plea after Texas school shooting: ‘When are we going to do something?’

NBA legend Steve Kerr refused to talk about basketball before his team’s play-off match with Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday, instead delivering a passionate speech condemning gun violence in the United States of America.

Kerr’s emotional speech came after nineteen children and two adults died in a shooting at a primary school in south Texas.

The gunman, believed to be 18-year-old former pupil Salvador Ramos, opened fire at Robb Elementary School, which teaches children aged seven to ten.

Ramos, who was killed by law enforcement, had a handgun, an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and high-capacity magazines, according to investigators.

Eight-time NBA champion Kerr, who is a long-time advocate of gun control, 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!’

Kerr, who is the head coach of Golden State Warriors, has repeatedly supported a bill that would require tighter background checks on those buying guns. The bill was passed in 2021 but did not get to the Senate.

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Kerr, who lost his father in a terrorist attack in Beirut in 1984, added: ‘I ask you, Mitch McConnell (the Senate minority leader), 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.’

Before leaving the press