NBA guard Dion Waiters is taking time off from the OKC Thunder to mourn his younger brother, tragically killed by gun violence in Philadelphia. Waiters himself wrote in a post about losing his brother that “guns don’t kill people. Stupid Moth—-s wit guns kill people,” adding “We need to do better as a whole & stop killing each other…”
Comments in media spots like Deadspin indicate that a lot of people think guns do kill people. A Philly Fox affiliate said Waiters’ brother was one of six killed in a “bloody day on the streets of Philadelphia.” An initial comment at Deadspin blaming the NRA brought defenders saying the NRA has nothing to do with violence like this: “If you think gangs wouldn’t have access to stolen guns because the general public wouldn’t have access to legally purchased and registered guns…. You’re an idiot.” Waiters initial first reaction — that “guns don’t kill people” — is a reminder that people can prevent these murders, that the cost is too great. But Waiters’ “guns don’t kill people” post shows how deeply this belief — which is at the center of the gun control debate — is ingrained. “For 15-year olds to 24-year olds, firearm homicide rates in the United States were 42.7 times higher than in the other countries,” according to a study published at the National Institutes of Health.
A photo posted by OKC ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️ (@waiters3) on
