LeBron James pushes for tougher gun laws after Cleveland infant killed
LeBron James pushed for tougher gun regulations on Friday in the aftermath of a shooting in Cleveland that killed a child.
An infant was shot and killed in Cleveland on Thursday, the same day 10 people died in a school shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon. James addressed the topic after Cavaliers practice.
“Obviously you’re not going to be able to take every gun out, I don’t know how you can do that. There’s so many around now, today,” James said Friday following Cavs practice, according to Ohio.com. “But if there’s some stipulations behind it or some penalties, some big time penalties or rules or regulations about carrying firearms, legal or illegal, people will second-guess themselves.”
Three children have been shot and killed in Cleveland in the past month, according to Ohio.com. After a five-month-old girl was shot in a drive-by Thursday, James used Twitter to air his thoughts. He told reporters that his perspective as a father made the news hit home harder.
“Obviously it’s not the first time that it’s happened, but it’s been happening a little bit too much recently,” James said on Friday, according to Ohio.com. “There’s no room for guns, first of all, but then for violence towards kids or anybody. But having kids of your own, I see the news go across my phone and I’m sitting there in front of my three kids, so it automatically just hit me. … It’s also the whole nation that goes through this as well. We all hurt from it.”
- Jeremy Woo