At the end of what might be his last pregame media availability, Gregg Popovich asked if any of the reporters had brought guns into the arena, then had so e things to say about lack of gun control regulation in Tennessee and, well, everywhere in the U.S. pic.twitter.com/a6DQtAqxMy
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) April 9, 2023
San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich is widely recognized as one of the most outspoken and woke figures in the NBA.
In a recent interview with reporters, Popovich shifted the focus away from his possible retirement and instead pleaded for more gun control in the US, citing the recent mass killing in Nashville, TN, as evidence of the need for change.
During the back and forth with the media on Sunday, the 74-year-old lashed out at Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).
“I mean, I couldn’t believe it, so I wrote this thing down,” Popovich said. “But Senator Marsha Blackburn, her comment after was, after the massacre, ‘My office is in contact with federal, state and local officials and we stand ready to assist.’
“In what?! They’re dead! What are you going to assist with? Cleaning up their brains off the wall? Wiping the blood off the schoolroom floor? What are you going to assist with?
“And then there’s Governor Lee. I’m sorry to go on and on, but Bill Lee, ‘I’m closely monitoring the tragic situation. Please join us in prayer.’ What are you monitoring? They’re dead! Children, they’re dead,” exclaimed Popovich.
SEE ALSO: Nashville Shooter: One in Long Line of Killers Who Targeted the Defenseless
The shooter targeted The Covenant School, a private Christian school in the city’s Green Hills neighborhood.
While authorities haven’t established a clear motive just yet, they have indicated the shooter picked that school, in part, because it was a soft target.
Coach Popovich rejected the idea that hardening schools with armed security would protect school children. He also called the 2A a “joke” and a “myth.”
“But they’re going to cloak all this stuff [in] the myth of the Second Amendment, the freedom. You know, it’s just a myth. It’s a joke. It’s just a game they play. I mean, that’s freedom. Is it freedom for kids to go to school and try to socialize and try to learn and be scared to death that they might die that day?
“But Ted Cruz will fix it, ‘cause he is gonna double the number of cops in the schools,” Popovich said derisively. “That’s what he wants to do. Well, that’ll create a great environment. Is that freedom? Or is it freedom to have a congressman who can make a postcard with all his family holding rifles, including an AR-15 or whatever. Is that cool? Is that like street cred for a Republican? That’s freedom? That’s more important than protecting kids? I don’t get it.”
SEE ALSO: Hi-Point Introduces the Industry’s First 30 Super Carry Carbine
Research conducted by the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) has revealed a trend of mass shootings occurring in locations designated as gun-free zones.
The CPRC study found that 98% of mass shootings took place in areas where the general public is prohibited from carrying firearms, as GunsAmerica recently highlighted.
Coach Popovich may recoil at the thought of hardening schools.
But someone should have asked him at the press conference if he feels the same about banks, courthouses, government buildings, airports, hospitals, stadiums, and sports arenas. Because all of those places are protected by good guys with guns.
Maybe it’s just me, but affording the same care to the most vulnerable and precious among us shouldn’t be all that controversial.
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