The NFL has the power to help fix our nation’s gun problem

It’s time for the NFL to take a stand towards gun violence after per week when this yr’s Tremendous Bowl was bookended by two shootings. The second taking pictures occurred on Wednesday on the finish of the Chiefs Tremendous Bowl parade in Kansas Metropolis. Some colleges had closed in order that college students may attend the victory celebration, and 9 children had been shot among the many 21 injured. One other particular person was killed. Lots of the particulars are nonetheless coming to gentle however this was one other horrific American vacation.

It was Valentine’s Day. The sixth anniversary of the Parkland taking pictures.

The primary taking pictures, in Houston, was when a lady with an AR-15-style rifle walked right into a Joel Osteen church. Safety acknowledged the risk, killed her and shot her 7-year-old son within the head. As terrible as this occasion was, it was jarring that the tone of the press convention centered on how profitable the response had been, regardless of a toddler combating for his life in a hospital. On CNN, Police Chief Troy Finner acknowledged that they expedited the press convention to get it in earlier than the beginning of the Tremendous Bowl.

That is American exceptionalism, the pageant of soccer and the hideous slaughter of mass shootings.

And now it involves the NFL, the place metallic detectors and gun bans welcome each fan who attends a sport. The Tremendous Bowl itself is without doubt one of the highest-level safety occasions within the nation every year, up there with a presidential look. The NFL can’t threat the possibility that somebody with a weapon units the enjoying area of their websites, so it really works to maintain them out.

The NFL may truly do one thing extra significant within the wake of the countless bloodshed. There isn’t a power in our nation that may mobilize change just like the NFL. There are two causes the league must make this a problem it cares about. The primary is that gun violence is disproportionately affecting children — 9 had been despatched to Mercy’s Kids’s Hospital with gunshot wounds. Native children who went to see the Chiefs have fun their Tremendous Bowl win have now joined the seemingly ever-growing military of kids traumatized by our nation’s plague of gun violence.

“I’m indignant at what occurred at present. The individuals who got here to this celebration sound anticipate a secure surroundings,” Kansas Metropolis Police Chief Stacey Graves stated.

Secondly, the NFL can tightly management occasions just like the Tremendous Bowl, however there are many massive open-air get-togethers round NFL video games, like tailgates and events, and with this nation changing into so awash in weapons and these shootings so normalized, it may have an effect on how individuals collect round video games. It didn’t appear so farfetched when watching mother and father interviewed on the parade describe their youngsters watching one other spectator get shot proper in entrance of them.

“There isn’t a longer any technique to assure having no gun violence at a significant public occasion on this nation,” stated former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence Frank Figliuzzi throughout Stephanie Ruhle’s MSNBC present on Wednesday night time.

Missouri permits permitless carry and has usually weak gun legal guidelines, whereas having one of the highest gun violence rates within the nation.

The Kansas Metropolis Chiefs launched this tepid assertion: “We’re really saddened by the mindless act of violence that occurred exterior of Union Station on the conclusion of at present’s parade and rally. Our hearts exit to the victims, their households, and all of Kansas Metropolis.”

Patrick Mahomes provided “Praying for Kansas Metropolis,” by way of social media. There have been plenty of feedback from those that felt prayers haven’t been almost sufficient to save lots of lives for the reason that repeal of the assault weapons ban, however I favor to provide the quarterback the good thing about the doubt having been a part of the unimaginable scene. Gamers who had simply spent just a few understandably decadent or family-centric days within the wake of an enormous win solely to have it flip into one other scene of American gun slaughter, won’t have the proper assertion at hand.

However it could make sense for the Chiefs to see if their deliberate, collective voice as a staff and a league may be more practical.

Yearly, the WNBA gamers and the league work collectively on one subject. This yr it was maternal mortality, which disproportionately impacts Black ladies. In a majority non-white league, that’s a spot the place efforts to make a distinction could make a distinction in communities the place gamers had been raised. It is sensible for a league to handle a problem near them.

There have been 800 cops on the parade scene in Kansas Metropolis, and none of them had been capable of cease greater than a dozen individuals getting shot. Even in Houston, the place the safety guards who shot the meant mass shooter to demise earlier than she may kill anybody, additionally put a bullet in a 7-year-old’s mind based on the boy’s grandmother.

The league has introduced consciousness and actual motion on points when it mobilized, comparable to home violence. After a spate of high-profile incidents, advocates towards home violence advised me they’d by no means skilled the highlight on the problem that the NFL introduced. There was all of a sudden cash to create coaching and assist victims.

The league is a power, and if it places its weight into making different occasions as secure as it really works to make stadiums and Tremendous Bowls secure, then these combating to make their cities, colleges, film theaters, church buildings, supermarkets, concert events and houses safer might need a combating likelihood.

The NFL can harness an influence that goes past being “saddened.” Many people really feel helpless realizing how ineffective lawmakers have been on this subject, however we will’t be shocked. This may occur once more, and to different youngsters, and every time it does, it makes our communities smaller and poorer. Our youngsters deserve higher than energetic shooter drills and bloodstained parade routes. They usually additionally deserve one thing greater than prayers as an answer.