Costas calls for gun control on ‘Sunday Night Football’
NBC’s Bob Costas used his halftime commentary on “Sunday Night Football” to call for stricter gun control in the wake of the murder-suicide involving Kansas City Chiefs player Jovan Belcher.
In a 90-second statement, Costas quoted Fox Sports writer Jason Whitlock:
In the aftermath of the nearly unfathomable events in KC, that most mindless of sports cliches was heard yet again: Something like this really puts it all in perspective … You want some actual perspective on this? Well a bit of it comes from the Kansas City-based writer Jason Whitlock, with whom I do not always agree, but who today said it so well that we may as well just quote or paraphrase from the end of his article. “Our current gun culture,” Whitlock wrote, “ensures that more and more domestic disputes will end in the ultimate tragedy, and that more convenience store confrontations over loud music coming from a car will leave more teenage boys bloodied and dead. Handguns do not enhance our safety. They exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments, and bait us into embracing confrontation rather than avoiding it. … If Jovan Belcher didn’t possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would still be alive today.”
Costas surely knew his remarks would be inflammatory, and they were. Online reaction was swift, with many expressing outrage that he used a nationally televised football game to express his personal views. Others praised Costas for taking a stand. What do you think?
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265 comments Add your comment
Otis
December 3rd, 2012
9:51 am
Costas can say what he wants to say, and I can and do choose to never lsiten to him again.
monty
December 3rd, 2012
9:52 am
For every misuse of a gun there are many more good uses,cases where firearms protected the innocent(the mom at home alone with her small children, the elderly). Having no guns will not eliminate nutjobs from acting badly. We could all wish it were so. If it could be guaranteed that if good and decent people would give up their guns that the thugs wouldn’t be able to have guns either, I might, and I say might, consider it. But we all know that when law biding citizens give up their guns then only thugs will have them. No thanks. And I don’t even own a gun, but I do still want the right to do so if I wish.
sam
December 3rd, 2012
9:53 am
Costa is a raging democrat and now, thank goodness he has shed the weight of this shooting off of his shoulders. He spoke his piece..Now he can say to himself, I’ve done my part. Why do you think the super rich actors in Hollywood backed obama? They want to more pay more taxes so they can feel good about themselves in that they have “given” their part. They don’t care if it makes “slaves” of people to the government. But to the Washington bunch it just another vote for me. Sad mentality!
wayne
December 3rd, 2012
9:55 am
If I had to bet and I may be wrong but he is probably a liberal Obama supporter. He doesn’t have a clue about guns. Most murders are done with knives and bats! Take away gun rights then you have another Iran or Egypt!
Red State Misfit
December 3rd, 2012
9:57 am
To those saying, if he didn’t have a gun he would have used a knife of a brick, etc. You are wrong. I’m assuming none of you have ever been in a situation that is truly “life threatening”. Guns give people a level of false courage that otherwise wouldn’t exist. Do you think the guy that shot into the car of the kids playing their music too loud would have been courageous enough to get out of his car and walk over to their with a knife and cut that kid’s throat? No way!
You think that football player would have picked up a brick and looked into his girlfriends eyes before he smashed it into her skull over and over? No shot! Guns give people a false sense of power that can, unfortunately, go very wrong with a 1/3 of a second trigger pull. I am not anti-gun. I own a handgun and keep it in a gun safe in my bedroom. I hope to god I never have to use it. But don’t be stupid by saying a knife and brick and a handgun are all perfect substitutes for each other if you want to kill!
karen marie
December 3rd, 2012
9:59 am
I am offended that an American Citizen doesn’t support our U.S. Constitution……..and that means every Amendment!!!
monty
December 3rd, 2012
10:00 am
Don’t think for a minute that the ultra-lefties wouldn’t love a state controlled govt. Think Hunger Games. THat way they can subjugate the weak. It’s all about absloute control over your life. Big govt. Big Brother. Big control. No thanks.
Tired of Rednecks
December 3rd, 2012
10:00 am
Well said Misfit
Hillary, Guns, MARTA changes and Monty Python – Your Morning Reads | Blog for Democracy
December 3rd, 2012
10:03 am
[...] Costas goes off on guns during…Sunday Night Football? [...]
Todd Cunningham
December 3rd, 2012
10:04 am
tired of rednecks…another that don’t know the facts. You don’t know what the kids said are did to cause the shooting. All you know is it was a Bk kid and white man (not old)..so the man had to be wrong? we get your point.
zeke
December 3rd, 2012
10:05 am
REMOVE HIM FOR HIS POLITICALLY CORRECT DIATRIBE! Was the gun used legal! Did he have a permit, which by the way violates the Constitution! And yes, handguns do make us safer! Look at the stats mister. stat Costas!
monty
December 3rd, 2012
10:06 am
For all you lefty nut jobs who think that guns cause violence, I hate to inform you but guns are a rather late invention and people have been killing each other rather violently for a long, long, time. Think about the murders in prison where inmates have to fashion the crudest of shanks when no one is looking, but that doesn’t deter them, does it? Prison should be the ultimate “safe” environment, a place without firearms, but we all know that prison is a very violent place because of the folk who just happened to be incarcerated there.
Marvin Mangrum
December 3rd, 2012
10:07 am
You know, I got one thing to say, I wonder if the stool he was sitting on while saying this silly drivel got him to appear to be taller than 5 foot two. Give him a raise because I bet he gives most of his away. What a POS.
Bruce Lutz
December 3rd, 2012
10:08 am
To all who want to rectify gun violence by banning guns – no guns don’t kill people, people kill people. When is the last time a gun jumped up spontaneously and shot someone? Case closed. Foolishly thinking legislation will resolve the issue is akin to thinking that legislation can resolve cold harsh winters from causing some to freeze to death. To the liberal press – it is amazing to see their inability (or unwillingness) to acknowledge that their 1st amendment rights were invoked by the armed citizenry who employed the 2nd amendment rights to defeat the over-oppressive British government. Our forefathers realized the importance of the 2nd amendment for without it, none of the other rights would be protected. It is the 2nd amendment, not the 4th, 7th, or 10th – for a good reason. Last, as to the “high” murder rate here in the U.S. So tell me, what of the 6 million Jews and 20 million Russians (the list goes on with the Cama Rouge, etc.) who did not have the 2nd amendment rights we enjoy to protect themselves and preclude their murder?
Skipper strong
December 3rd, 2012
10:08 am
I am now completely done w/NBC! Sports was the only event I watched on this network, but even that can’t escape your socialist diatribe. Your advertisers won’t notice a single protest, but rest assured I will work to make them known to those millions sharing my viewpoint!!
foodfight
December 3rd, 2012
10:09 am
Hey, editor, why do I have to see this on the sports page? Of course, it can’t be because you guys have an agenda,. Certainly NOT.
Roll Turd Roll
December 3rd, 2012
10:09 am
Since when has Bob Costas been “relevant”?
Dan
December 3rd, 2012
10:09 am
People, you gotta understand, it wasn’t Bob’s fault! It was the microphone!!
Will
December 3rd, 2012
10:11 am
Ben, my bad…forgot what football night it was. Have to remember to watch on Monday nights only where Costas doesn’t reside! Let’s remember though seriously, this is bigger than Bob Costas, he’s a nobody…it’s the network or even bigger.
Bullman5150
December 3rd, 2012
10:13 am
Very ignorant statements made by someone living in such a jaded, protected world that he has no idea what he even said. Most of the worlds most violent events happened without the use of guns, and to put the blame on a tool or item takes away from the root of the problem. People who think guns are the problem need to take the blinders off and realize the root of evil is man himself.
Ivan
December 3rd, 2012
10:14 am
Bob Costas: “If Jovan Belcher didn’t possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would still be alive today.”
Hey Bob, “If Sean Taylor possessed a gun, he would probably still be alive today.”
Joseph
December 3rd, 2012
10:15 am
Costas can keep his thoughts to himself. I got some prospective for him though. Belcher was freaking crazy! Perhaps if he didn’t play football and take all those hard hits he and his girlfriend would still be alive??
Phil
December 3rd, 2012
10:15 am
that is not the place or time to make that comment which apparently the NFL endorses. When guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns look at Mexico.
Mike
December 3rd, 2012
10:16 am
THANK YOU! It is courageous for someone in the sports ”
family” to speak the truth. GUNS KILL PEOPLE!
Dan
December 3rd, 2012
10:16 am
Costas is spot on, as any intelligent person knows. Gun lovers are pathetically stupid. Most of them are uneducated. They don’t realize that this is the only civilized country that gives in to their warped mentality. Unfortunately, the only solution is for the government to offer $5,000 cash for every gun turned in. Then watch the animals devour each other.
Unbelievable
December 3rd, 2012
10:16 am
Wow…. “Guns don’t kill people, people kill poeple”……. enough said.
Renee
December 3rd, 2012
10:17 am
Guns are not living, breathing beings. They are inorganic things…just like cars. How many people are killed annually in car accidents across this great country of ours? How many times are vehicles used in “smash and grab” robberies? So, perhaps we should ban cars next? Really people, get a grip. When guns are “controlled” only criminals are the ones who will have guns. Thanks, Bob Costas, for confirming that it’s time for you to just take your bad hair color job and retire!
count_schemula
December 3rd, 2012
10:17 am
Costas. What a tool.
falconfreak
December 3rd, 2012
10:17 am
Costas carrying water for commie NBC? LOL…what did you expect? It’s not like the player couldn’t have killed his girlfriend with his hands or a knife, driven his car into a tree, OD’d on pills, etc. I think you get the point. If only there hadn’t of been guns, these 2 fine people would be alive. The lefties want to disarm America and take every opportunity they can to use tortured logic to argue their case. Give me Costas for a day and I’ll put him in a few situations where he’ll be begging for a gun. Just another reason not to watch NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, CBS, ABC or the CommieNewsNetwork.
Bill
December 3rd, 2012
10:19 am
“If Jovan Belcher didn’t possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would still be alive today.” That is the most absurd, moronic comment I have ever read. Had he no gun would he have not used a knife? How about his bare hands? The gun did not kill these two, Jovan Belcher did.
MEI
December 3rd, 2012
10:19 am
Bob is undoubtedly an idiot liberal.
Bringing his own opinion and politics into a sad situation of a disturbed individual that did not get help.
If the man had of gotten Government help for his condition 2 people might be alive today.
thecarnivore123
December 3rd, 2012
10:22 am
Gun control? GUN CONTROL? How about THUG control first?
tj
December 3rd, 2012
10:25 am
BC calls for ….. ?? BFD!
Harry Callahan
December 3rd, 2012
10:26 am
OJ Simpson didn’t use a gun. I guess Costas and Whitlock missed that story.
WTF
December 3rd, 2012
10:26 am
If Bob wants he can not own a gun. As for me, I will continue to do.
BobRobert
December 3rd, 2012
10:27 am
So Bob feels that the rights and freedom of hundreds of millions of Americans should be denied because of the actions of a few sick individuals (and you have to be sick to commit suicide.) It is because of people like Bob that the right to bear arms is even more relevant, to prevent the oppression of the many by the supposedly intellectual few. An armed electorate is the only way to prevent government oppression.
Nicole Simpson
December 3rd, 2012
10:28 am
“If Jovan Belcher didn’t possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would still be alive today.”
ummmm…….no
Edward Johansen
December 3rd, 2012
10:29 am
Sorry Bob, I’m not gonna sit on my living room chair while my wife and daughters are gang raped by some whack-jobs that kicked in my front door. I’m going to shoot them dead. Go back to your Elite world and stick to sports.
Tired of Rednecks
December 3rd, 2012
10:30 am
@ Todd – I know that an unarmed kid was killed. Are you justifying killing an unarmed person for words that he said?
Tired of Rednecks
December 3rd, 2012
10:34 am
What could have said to justify being shot? I anxiously await your answer Todd.
kimmer
December 3rd, 2012
10:35 am
Hmm lets see. Alcohol kills way more people than firearms just from drunk driving. That is not even counting the toll that alcoholism takes on tens of thousands of people’s lives many of them children. This is from a substance that does what for society? Well it gives us a buzz. Yet, bob costas isn’t calling for alcohol control. Tried it once. Didn’t work.
Recreational drugs are indeed illegal but how is that working out to keep them out of peoples hands?
Handguns on the other hand, while often used to commit crimes, do have the socially redeeming quality of allowing citizens to defend themselves and their property. I also wonder how many of those handgun related homicides are criminals shooting one another?
So here is what we are left with. Based on the alcohol/drug model we know that people intent on breaking the law will always have access to firearms. The only people without them are those who are law abiding who happen to have a constitutional right to bear arms. Oh yeah. That makes real sense to me too.
Heather Fitzpatrick
December 3rd, 2012
10:35 am
Why is it that certain New channel only point out the political opinion of President Obama wants to get rid of . Costas should not have take advantage of the football game halftime show. If any one who has head injury any thing could be used to kill some one and not a gun. My condolences to the familys of Kasandra and Jovan, may god be with you.
Nebraska
December 3rd, 2012
10:37 am
The gun is not to blame. Only the person who would have committed the act with or without it. Do people really think that guns are the only way that murder is committed and that if we get rid of them, the killing will stop?
Jake
December 3rd, 2012
10:37 am
The thing is he didn’t need a gun to kill her, but having one might have saved her.
Raiderbeater
December 3rd, 2012
10:37 am
Bob Costas has lived in a gated community in a affluent neighborhood all his life. He has never worked in dangerous areas.
This cop thinks he’s a fool.
Mike in VA
December 3rd, 2012
10:39 am
Where is Costas’ “people like Jevon Belcher” comment?? Why did you leave THAT out!?
NBC should fire Costas for the racist pig he is.
Raiderbeater
December 3rd, 2012
10:39 am
Sports reporter….pushing a partisan political position.
He should be fired.
Bill Myers
December 3rd, 2012
10:40 am
Mr Costas, should we have had gun control in 1776? 1862-1865?, 1917? 1941? Think of all of the lives that would have been saved. Or would they have been executed for entertainment. Would you have been a commentator at these events?
kimmer
December 3rd, 2012
10:42 am
We are a free people. With freedom comes responsibility and a also some risk. We can take levels of risk and responsibility out of peoples lives by taking away levels of their freedom. I say it is not worth it.
Sal
December 3rd, 2012
10:42 am
Geez, it’s just his opinion. Gun goons are out in force today.