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Steve Kerr on gun control: 'Our government is insane'

By The Sports Xchange
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr is honored along with the 2015 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on February 4, 2016. Kerr's father served as president of the American University of Beirut when he was gunned down by Islamic terrorists in the hallway outside his office on Jan. 18, 1984. Photo by Pat Benic/UPI
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr is honored along with the 2015 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on February 4, 2016. Kerr's father served as president of the American University of Beirut when he was gunned down by Islamic terrorists in the hallway outside his office on Jan. 18, 1984. Photo by Pat Benic/UPI | License Photo

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr made a passionate plea for stronger background checks on gun purchases in the United States.

Kerr appeared on San Jose Mercury News sports columnist Tim Kawakami's podcast on Friday to talk about the Warriors' 93-89 stunning loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 7, falling short of repeating as NBA champions.

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Kerr then wanted to talk about a political issue, saying "our government is insane" for failing to pass gun control legislation.

Kerr's father, Malcolm, was assassinated in 1984 at the American University of Beirut.

"When 90 percent of our country wants background checks on gun purchases and we've got our Senate and our House not only voting it down but using the Bill of Rights as a reason for people to have rights to carry these automatic weapons, and we're getting people murdered every day at an alarming rate," Kerr told Kawakami.

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"I just have to get this off my chest. Our government is insane. We are insane. And what bugs me is this adherence to the right to bear arms, you know. That was back in 1776. People didn't own automatic rifles. You had to have a musket in case the Redcoats were coming. The British were coming. And the beautiful thing about the Constitution is they left open amendments to change things because things change over time.

"I kind of think that our forefathers would not have OK'd automatic weapons to be sold to everybody if they existed back then. Let's have some checks. It's easier to get a gun than it is to get a driver's license. It's insane. And as somebody who's had a family member shot and killed, it devastates me every time I read about this stuff -- like what happened in Orlando -- and then it's even more devastating to see the government just cowing to the NRA and going to this totally outdated Bill Of Rights, right to bear arms. If you want to own a musket, fine, you know, but come on. The rest of the world thinks we're insane. We are insane.

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"And until we vote these senators and congressmen and women out of office, the same thing's gonna happen. And it's infuriating and I had to get that off my chest."

The terror attack of a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., June 12 left 49 dead and 53 others wounded in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

The nightclub massacre occurred just a day before Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

People gather at a memorial after the shooting at the Orlando Pluse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, June 13, 2016. A lone gunman shot and killed 49 attendees and wounded another 53 at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando Florida. Photo by Gary I Rothstein/UPI..
Malcolm Kerr served as president of the American University of Beirut when he was gunned down by Islamic terrorists in the hallway outside his office on Jan. 18, 1984. Steve Kerr was a freshman at the University of Arizona when his father was murdered.

"You wonder if any of these senators and congressmen and women who are so opposed to even holding a vote on not only the right to buy an automatic weapon but just the background checks," Kerr said, "and the lists and all the stuff, how would they feel about this if their own child, their own mother, their own father, sister, brother, wife, husband was murdered. Mass murdered. Would that change your mind? I don't know but how many times do we have to go through this before our government actually does something about it?"

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