NFL
By: Zachary Draves
It was just another day in America. Another mass shooting with multiple casualties at what is supposed to be a safe haven. This time the carnage occurred Wednesday on the campus of UNLV, in which three people were gunned down as well as the suspect.
This latest tragedy marks the 631st mass shooting in 2023 alone and the 80th school shooting.
As many would expect, the well intentioned, but ultimately hallowed expression of “thoughts and prayers” came and went as the frustration with lawmakers for their inaction to prevent gun violence continues to elevate. That anger has been echoed for a long time by advocates, victims’ families, and public figures, including LeBron James.
On Wednesday, the Lakers were playing in the semifinals of the NBA’s in-season tournament in Vegas, less than three miles from the university. James said that he got a text from his brother letting him know about the shooting and to be safe. During a pre-game press conference, James offered his condolences while simultaneously reiterating his frustrations with the lack of action.
(Courtesy: Reuters)
“First of all, my condolences go to the families that lost loved ones, families and friends and everything,” he said.
“It just goes back to what I said before about guns in America. I think it’s such a longer conversation, but we keep dealing with the same story, this same conversation every single time it happens, and it just continues to happen. The ability to get a gun, the ability to do these things over and over and over, and there’s been no change is literally ridiculous. It makes no sense that we continue to lose innocent lives, on campuses, schools, at shopping markets and movie theaters and all type of stuff. It’s ridiculous.”
This is not the first time that James, who is known for his activism, has spoken out on this particular issue.
In 2012, while playing for the Miami Heat, he and the team took that now famous picture of them wearing hoodies in solidarity with Trayvon Martin, the black teen who was shot in Sanford, Florida by neighborhood watch George Zimmerman.
(Courtesy: LeBrom James/X/Twitter)
In 2015, he called for stronger gun laws in his home state of Ohio after three children were killed in Cleveland.
In 2018, he and the Lakers wore t-shirts during pregame that read “Enough” that listed the names of the 12 victims of the Thousand Oaks shooting.
(Courtesy: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)
In 2022, he took to Twitter, now X, to express his horror at the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas in which 21 children were killed.
My thoughts and prayers goes out to the families of love ones loss & injured at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX! Like when is enough enough man!!! These are kids and we keep putting them in harms way at school. Like seriously "AT SCHOOL" where it's suppose to be the safest!
— LeBron James (@KingJames) May 24, 2022
He’s right, it is ridiculous.
It is ridiculous that the most powerful industrialized nation on the planet cannot seem to get this problem under control and how we have normalized it to such a degree that it seems beyond the pale to do anything about it.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, 40,189 Americans have been killed in all acts of gun violence (murder, suicide, unintentional, etc.) in 2023 along with 276 children and 1,310 teens.
When is enough enough?
It shouldn’t have to be the onus of LeBron James to remind those with the power to effect change to do their jobs. In an ideal world, we wouldn’t have this unique problem of gun violence and that James could simply continue focusing on basketball and defy all presumptions about longevity.
A virtual “shut up and dribble” world if you will.
But we don’t live in that world and it is becoming even more obvious that we won’t live in that world.
If there is any hope, it is that there is some semblance of moral consistency coming from people like LeBron James who are willing to say what needs to be said. He has been looking at this issue as both an American and a father, being the consummate family man that he is, wanting to create a safer society.
Until we get to his level of concern, he and many others are not going to “shut up and dribble” and given the current circumstances, we can’t afford that kind of apathy.
