A US basketball legend has launched an emotional tirade against pro-gun-lobby US Senators he says are holding the country "hostage" following the devastation of another school shooting.
At least 18 primary school-aged children and a teacher were shot dead by an 18-year-old gunman at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Investigations into the shooting remain underway, though it has been confirmed the gunman, Salvador Ramos, is dead.
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Statements of grief have been issued by politicians including US President Joe Biden – and now one of American basketball's elder statesmen has issued a blistering attack on the state of gun control in the US.
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, whose team is scheduled to play in Dallas, Texas, opened his address to a pre-match media gathering by bluntly telling them, "I'm not going to talk about basketball".
"Since we left shoot-around, 14 children were killed, 400 miles from here, and a teacher," he said.
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"And in the last 10 days we've had elderly Black people killed in a supermarket in Buffalo.
"We've had Asian churchgoers killed in Southern California.
"And now we have children murdered at school.
"When are we gonna do something?"
Kerr said he was "so tired" of only being able to offer condolences and moments of silence to the devastated families of mass shooting victims.
"There's 50 senators right now, who refused to vote on HRA, which is a background check rule that the House (of Representatives) passed a couple years ago," he said.
"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."
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Kerr spoke with a contained fury, slamming his hands onto the table in front of him to underscore his points.
"We can't get numb to this," he said.
"You realise that 90 per cent of Americans, regardless of political party, want background checks, universal background checks – 90 per cent of 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."
Kerr, who is frequently outspoken on social issues, has eight National Basketball Association championship rings, five as a player, and three as head coach of the Warriors.
His exposure to gun violence has been a deeply personal one, with his father – a US professor in Lebanon – killed by members of the Islamic Jihad militia in 1984, when Kerr was 18.
He has also spoken about knowing US Marines while growing up in Lebanon, who were later killed in barracks bombings.
Kerr endorsed Joe Biden for US President in 2020 and was a vocal critic of Donald Trump.
He has consistently expressed support for gun control measures and for Black Lives Matter protesters.
