LeBron James Just Took a Big Stand on Guns
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NBA star LeBron James called for more gun safety on the same day as the Umpqua Community College mass shooting, which killed nine and wounded many others last week.
Last week, James lamented the death of a baby girl who was killed in a car seat in his hometown Cleveland on the same day as the Roseburg, Oregon shooting:
The athlete spoke further on the issue Friday after practice with the Cleveland Cavaliers, telling Ohio.com that full gun control would be tough to achieve but that the country needs to step it up to prevent gun violence.
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“Obviously you’re not going to be able to take every gun out, I don’t know how you can do that," he said. "There’s so many around now, today. But if there’s some stipulations behind it or some penalties, some big time penalties or rules or regulations about carrying firearms, legal or illegal, people will second-guess themselves.”
James added that recent news stories of children getting shot in Cleveland made him worry more about guns in America, as he is a father himself.
“Obviously it’s not the first time that it’s happened, but it’s been happening a little bit too much recently,” James continued. “There’s no room for guns, first of all, but then for violence towards kids or anybody. But having kids of your own, I see the news go across my phone and I’m sitting there in front of my three kids, so it automatically just hit me. …It’s also the whole nation that goes through this as well. We all hurt from it.”
The Umpqua Community College tragedy is the 45th shooting in the U.S. this year. It is also the 142nd shooting since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which killed 20 children and six staff members in December 2012.
On Sunday, CNN interviewed Ian Mercer, the father of the Umpqua Community College shooter, about the issue of gun safety in our country. Mercer said he was floored to learn investigators found his son had 13 firearms.
"How on earth could he compile 13 guns? How can that happen?" Mercer said. "They talk about gun laws, they talk about gun control. Every time something like this happens, they talk about it, and nothing is done."
