Steve Kerr Speaks Out Again on Gun Violence: “What If It Were Your Child?”
PORTLAND, Ore. - Before the Warriors took the court in Portland on Sunday, head coach Steve Kerr took a moment to address something far bigger than basketball. In the wake of a shooting at Brown University the night before, Kerr-unprompted-spoke for three minutes at the end of his pregame press conference, delivering a heartfelt and urgent message about gun violence in America.
It wasn’t the first time Kerr has used his platform to speak out on the issue, and it likely won’t be the last. But once again, the Warriors coach made it clear: this is personal, and this is urgent.
“I was sitting here seven years ago after the Parkland shooting,” Kerr began. “We were in Portland that day too.
I remember turning on the news and seeing what had happened. With what happened last night at Brown, it’s just a reminder that these shootings keep happening-and there’s something we can do about it.”
The emotion in Kerr’s voice was unmistakable. He wasn’t pointing fingers.
He wasn’t grandstanding. He was asking people-fans, citizens, lawmakers-to care.
To act. To imagine, even for a moment, what it would feel like to be on the other side of that tragedy.
“The loss that the people involved last night are feeling,” Kerr said, “it’s the same loss that the Parkland families felt. It’s the same loss every family feels after a mass shooting.”
Kerr acknowledged that no one had asked him about the shooting before the game. He didn’t expect them to.
And he wasn’t sure there’d even be a moment of silence in the arena. That’s part of the problem, he said.
The tendency to look away. To move on.
To treat these moments as tragic, yes-but also routine.
“But we have to think about it,” he said. “Even though it’s human nature not to.”
Kerr has long been a vocal advocate for gun control, a stance shaped in part by his own family’s history-his father, Malcolm Kerr, was shot and killed in Beirut in 1984. That personal connection has fueled his willingness to speak out, and on Sunday, he used his voice once again to urge people to push for change.
He made it clear: this isn’t about taking guns away from responsible owners. In fact, he went out of his way to say that most gun owners in the country are law-abiding citizens. But he also stressed that there are common-sense steps that can be taken-steps that, in his view, would save lives.
“We know there are common-sense measures we can take,” Kerr said. “And I just want people out there-doesn’t matter if you’re Democrat or Republican, gun owner or not-I want you to think: What if it were my child? What if it were my brother or sister?”
Then came the challenge. Kerr urged fans and citizens alike to demand more from their elected officials. Not just in words, but at the ballot box.
“Would you be willing to stand up to your representatives and say, ‘You know what? Enough. I’m not going to vote for you unless you stand up for gun violence prevention through common-sense laws that the vast majority of Americans agree on’?”
Kerr has never shied away from speaking on issues that matter to him, and his message on Sunday was as forceful and focused as ever. He spoke not as a coach, but as a father, a citizen, and someone who’s lived through personal loss.
He ended his statement with a call to action-a plea for people to stop accepting this as normal.
“Are we just going to continue to let the gun lobby run us over?” he asked. “Or are we going to do something to protect each other, to protect our children, to protect our future?”
Kerr paused for a moment, tapping the table in front of him to drive the point home.
“Don’t just look the other way,” he said. “Even though that’s human nature, and I understand it.
Think about it. Do you want something done?
Do you want your child to go to school terrified every day? Or do you want to actually take action?”
“Because that’s what a democracy is about. Where we demand that our representatives protect us. That option is there.”
And with that, Kerr left the podium. No dramatic exit. Just a message-clear, urgent, and deeply human.