Steve Kerr And LeBron James Called For Change In The Aftermath Of The Uvalde School Shooting

A mass shooting occurred on Tuesday in Uvalde, Texas when a gunman entered Robb Elementary School and killed — as of this writing — 18 children and three adults. It is the latest example of someone walking into a public space with a firearm in the United States and opening fire, and both LeBron James and Steve Kerr attempted to convey their thoughts about the urgency with which we need change.

Soon after people began learning about the tragedy, James took to Twitter to express his disgust in how this sort of thing can happen at schools before saying “there simply has to be change.”

Kerr, meanwhile, is in Texas for Game 4 of the Golden State Warriors’ Western Conference Finals series against the Dallas Mavericks. While it is hardly the first time that Kerr has expressed sadness and fury over this sort of incident, the Warriors’ coach once again made a passionate plea for some sort of response from elected officials in Washington, D.C. — in particular, Kerr called out Republican senators who have long served as an impediment to any sort of gun control legislation.

“We’ve had Asian churchgoers killed in southern California and now we have children murdered at school,” Kerr said. “When are we gonna do something? I’m tired, I’m so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to the devastated families that are out there, I am so tired of the moments of silence. Enough. There’s 50 senators, right now, who refuse to vote on HR-8, which is a background check rule that the House passed a couple years ago. It’s been sitting there for two years. And there’s a reason they won’t vote on it: to hold onto power. So I ask you, Mitch McConnell, 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.”

Kerr’s opposing head coach tonight, Jason Kidd, read a statement prior to his pregame presser and said that the Mavericks have heavy hearts in the lead-up to Tuesday’s game.