Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr wears "Vote For Our Lives" T-shirt at Game 2 of NBA Finals
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr wore a "Vote For Our Lives" T-shirt before Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday. A vocal critic of current gun laws, Kerr wanted to spread a message in the wake of the shooting in Virginia Beach that left 12 dead and several others hurt two days earlier.
Kerr was asked about the shirt during a news conference before the Warriors' 109-104 win over the Raptors in Toronto.
"The shirt has everything to do with the tragedy in Virginia Beach and how devastated so many families are and so many people are," Kerr said. "The shirt is a reminder that the only way we can get out of this mess is to actually vote and to vote for people who are going to be willing to create some change in our gun laws in our country."
He offered his response prior to being informed that former President Barack Obama was going to be in attendance for the game. During a speech in Brazil at the VTEX DAY conference last week, Obama criticized the lack of progress on gun control in the U.S. and said the current laws in place "don't make much sense."
Steve Kerr explains his ‘Vote for our lives.’ Felt appropriate in the wake of the mass shooting in Virginia Beach on Friday to display his desire for gun laws. pic.twitter.com/dXEy6fI8gD
— Monte Poole (@MontePooleNBCS) June 2, 2019
Kerr said the students who organized the "March For Our Lives" have motivated him to be more active in advocating for stricter gun laws and supporting the teenage activists. "Vote For Our Lives" is part of the same movement to get young people "to fight for sensible gun violence prevention policies that save lives."
"The young generation, the March For Our Lives, has really inspired me," Kerr said. "So I offer my support to them and to all young people and hope that we can create a change where we don't all have to walk around scared we're going to get shot in our country."
In a recent "60 Minutes" interview, Kerr spoke about the killing of his father and how it impacts the way he coaches the Warriors today. When he was 18 and a freshman at the University of Arizona, his father, the president of the American University of Beirut, was assassinated by the terrorist group Islamic Jihad. The sudden tragedy changed his life on and off the court.
"When [tragedy] happens early in your life, it gives you a better awareness to how fragile everything is," Kerr told "60 Minutes." "And so, when you get to a good thing, you want to hold onto it… because you know nothing lasts."