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Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr is one of the most esteemed personalities in the National Basketball Association.

After yet another school shooting in the United States, this time at an elementary school in Texas following a mass shooting at a grocery store and another at a church Kerr spoke up. His righteous anger was directed at the politicians in his country who refuse to pass legislation to require background checks for gun ownership, even though the vast majority of Americans would like to see such a law.

During a pre-game press conference, Kerr didnt talk about basketball. Instead, he stated: We are being held hostage by 50 senators in Washington who refuse to put it to a vote, despite what we, the American people, want. They wont vote on it because they want to hold onto their own power. Its pathetic. Ive had enough. He then stormed out of the room.

We may be seeing a shift in American sentiment, and just as it was after the George Floyd murder two years ago, the professional basketball community is speaking out in a voice that can no longer be ignored.

The arms industry is very wealthy and powerful, and they make generous contributions to the politicians, who make sure that the industrys coffers continue to expand. Gun violence is out of control in the United States because of the well-funded lobby of the arms industry working on all levels of the American government. This has led to some very dangerous trends in the United States.

According to the liberal advocacy group Public Citizen:

The United States is not the only country in the world with school shootings, but theyre much less frequent elsewhere because of the collaborative efforts of school administrators, law enforcement agents and other significant players to prevent them. In those countries, officials have studied the incidents, their causes and effective means of responding to them. Theyve implemented plans and protocols to keep children safe.

No system is perfect, and we always need to be on guard, but the data illustrates whats working and whats not.

Kerr is reasonable and honourable. The vast majority of people in the United States agree with him. Gun control is only one of several issues on which American elected officials are far out of sync with their constituents. Democracy is, by its nature, an imperfect form of government, but a government cant continue to function as a democracy if it doesnt eventually bend to the will of its people.

Canada shares the largest undefended border in the world with the United States and they remain our largest trading partner. How do we respond to the problems south of our border?

For one thing, we need to be informed and aware of which practices are life-giving and which arent. We also need to keep our house in order. And sometimes, like Kerr, we need to let the world know that were angry.

Troy Media columnist Gerry Chidiac specializes in languages, genocide studies and works with at-risk students. He is the recipient of an award from the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre for excellence in teaching about the Holocaust. For interview requests, click here.

The opinions expressed by our columnists and contributors are theirs alone and do not inherently or expressly reflect the views of our publication.

Troy MediaTroy Media is an editorial content provider to media outlets and its own hosted community news outlets across Canada.

Gun control, Law, NBA, Public safety, USA

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Why the U.S. continues to drag its feet on gun control - Troy Media