Coach K Calls Out Politicians for Inaction After Recent Mass Shootings

Editor’s note: This story contains details of a mass casualty event and gun violence.

Former Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski recently expressed his thoughts on gun reform in America following last week’s mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Tex., which left 21 people dead including 19 children.

Coach K held a public viewing of his latest SiriusXM radio episode at Cameron Indoor Stadium’s Champions Club on Thursday night. During the discussion, he brought up his disappointment in the lack of change regarding gun control.

“You shouldn’t vote for the party, you should vote for the people that you serve,” Krzyzewski said, via The News & Observer. “And you should have the guts, the courage, and it’s your duty. It’s your duty to do that. We are not doing that duty at the national level when our country is suffering greatly from it.”

Krzyzewski served in the Army in the early 1970s. He also served as coach of the basketball team at West Point, his alma mater, from 1975–80. He expressed that he doesn’t think Americans should be using the automatic weapons outside of the armed forces.

“The people that are suffering are people that need you,” Krzyzewski said. “Like, why don’t you? Come on. You know? What the hell are we doing? You know, we’re not taking care of our people. And we can go into the guns. Like, you need an automatic weapon? You gotta be kidding me. You got to be kidding me. It’s disgusting.”

The 75-year-old also referenced the recent mass shooting in Buffalo that left 10 Black people dead in a local grocery store. He also brought up the 2018 mass shooting in which 11 Jewish people were killed in a Pittsburgh synagogue.

“For us to see these kids get killed, members of our African American community get killed in a grocery store, members of our Jewish community getting killed in a synagogue (in a 2018 Pittsburgh shooting),” Krzyzewski said. “Come on. That’s not right. That’s not right. That’s not right. I mean it’s amazingly wrong. It’s amazingly wrong. And you should be ashamed of yourself, if you are in a position of power.”

Coach K isn’t the only basketball coach to speak his mind on the topic of gun control. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr went viral on May 24, the day of the Uvalde shooting, when he emotionally called for political action.