South Texas school shooting: Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr calls for gun law changes

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr has blasted power hungry American senators for refusing to vote on a bill to enforce background checks for the sale of firearms in America.

It comes after an 18-year-old man killed 18 children and three adults in a mass shooting at a Texas primary school.

The H.R.8 bill, passed through the house in 2019, will establish ‘background check requirements for firearm transfers between private parties’.

Moments before his team’s fourth game of the western conference finals against the Dallas Mavericks, Kerr began a plea that has lit up social media for the bill to be passed.

“I’m not going to talk about basketball ... any basketball questions don’t matter,” Kerr said.

“I’m tired. I’m so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to the devastated families that are out there.

“I’m tired of the moments of silence, enough. There’s 50 senators right now that refuse to vote on H.R.8, which is a background check rule that the house passed a couple of years ago. It’s been sitting there for two years.

“And there’s a reason they won’t vote on it - to hold onto power.

“I ask all of you senators who refuse to do anything about the violence and school shootings and supermarket shootings, I ask you, are you going to put your own desire for power ahead of the lives of our children and our elderly and our church-goers. Because that’s what it looks like.

“I’m fed up, I’ve had enough. We’re going to play the game tonight, but I want every person here, every person listening to this to think about your own child, your own grandchild or mother or sister or brother - how would you feel if this happened to you today?

“We can’t get numb to this. We can’t sit here and just read about it and go ‘well, let’s have a moment of silence, go Dubs.

“That’s what we’re going to do, we’re going to play a basketball game and 50 senators in Washington are going to hold us hostage.

“Do you realise that 90 per cent of Americans, regardless of political party, want background check, universal background check. 90 per cent of us are being held hostage by 50 senators in Washington who refuse to even put it to a vote, despite what we the American people want.

“They won’t vote on it because they want to hold onto their own power. It’s pathetic, I’ve had enough.”