‘Mind-boggling.’ Warriors coach Steve Kerr calls out Ted Cruz over gun control comments

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Mike Stunson
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Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr ripped Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and other elected Republicans following mass shootings this month in Atlanta and Boulder, Colorado.

The outspoken NBA coach said Tuesday night he is grieving and devastated over the shootings and “an inability in our representatives and government of doing anything about it.”

He singled out the junior senator from Texas, who accused Democratic leaders of “ridiculous theater” as they consider changes to gun laws following the shootings.

“Every time there’s a shooting, we play this ridiculous theater, where this committee gets together and proposes a bunch of laws that would do nothing to stop these murders,” Cruz said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence.

Kerr took issue with that comment during an interview before his team faced off against the Philadelphia 76ers.

“Ted Cruz, this could be your family. This could be your friend. This could be somebody very close to you,” Kerr said. “If it happened, would you not want there to be something in place where there was a background check? It’s just mind-boggling to me that we can just continue to cater to the very small minority in this country.”

Ten people were killed during the supermarket shooting Monday in Boulder, authorities said. The accused shooter, Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, purchased the gun six days before the shooting, the Associated Press reported.

Eight people, including six Asian women, were shot and killed in a series of shootings at massage parlors last week in Atlanta, McClatchy News reported. The accused shooter, Robert Aaron Long, planned to go to Florida to possibly carry out more shootings, authorities say.

“We have to address it. We cant just turn it into a political issue and romanticize this idea that Americans get to have guns and it’s a God-given right,” Kerr said. “What does that even mean? Did guns exist when God created the earth? I wasn’t aware of that.”

Cruz said he and Sen. Chuck Grassley will reintroduce a bill that would prevent felons, fugitives and people with “serious mental disease” from purchasing weapons. The bill has been introduced before in 2013 and 2019.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat said he would bring legislation to the Senate floor that would require background checks for the purchase of most guns, the Associated Press reported.

President Joe Biden called for a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in the wake of the shootings.

But Cruz appeared on Fox News’ “Hannity” on Tuesday and said taking away guns from Americans “disarms the potential victims and makes them vulnerable to criminals.”

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