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Winthrop men's basketball coach calls for change in wake of Newtown shooting

brennan.164@osu.edu

Published: Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Updated: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 11:12

“I know this microphone’s powerful because we’re playing the (seventh) best team in the country. I’m not going to have a microphone like this the rest of this year, maybe the rest of my life.”

Following his team’s 65-55 loss to the Ohio State men’s basketball team, Winthrop men’s basketball coach Pat Kelsey used the Schottenstein Center microphone in his postgame press conference to address Friday’s school shooting in Newtown, Conn., and deliver an impassioned speech in which he called for change in America.

On Friday, 20-year-old gunman Adam Lanza shot his mother, Nancy, four times in the head before driving to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown where he used several weapons to kill 26 more people and then himself, according to reports. Each victim at the elementary school was shot multiple times, according to reports, and 20 of the deaths were students aged 6 or 7.

Kelsey passed on the opportunity to address the shooting on Saturday after his Eagles upset Ohio University, a Sweet Sixteen participant in the 2012 NCAA Tournament, choosing instead to speak his mind on OSU’s campus.

A father of 5-year-old and 4-year-old girls, Kelsey did not advocate for a specific governmental action and even said, “I’m not smart enough to know what needs to be done.”

Clearly, Kelsey has seen and heard enough of Friday’s violence to know that something needs to change.

“I didn’t vote for President (Barack) Obama, OK, but he’s my president now. He’s my leader. I need him to step up,” Kelsey said. “(Speaker of the House John) Boehner … he needs to step up. Parents, teachers, rabbis, priests, coaches — everybody needs to step up. This has to be a time for change.”

Kelsey pledged to use his position as a coach and father to make a difference.

“I’m going to be an agent of change with the 13 young men I get to coach every day and the two little girls that I get to raise,” he said, “but hopefully things start changing because it’s really, really disappointing.”

Evan Speyer contributed to this story.

 

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12 comments

joe dirt
Thu Dec 20 2012 22:53
People killed is mass prior to the invention of gun powder. If you eliminate the gun people will still kill. Know your history before you grandstand. Perhaps if nearly all adults carried a knife, and there were no guns, would one try to pull their knife to kill?
Anonymous
Thu Dec 20 2012 14:14
GUNS are the issue & problem herw mental health is a problem but not all people with mental health problems kill people but guns are used soley to kill someone or animals however i don't think any of the children in ct were animals. stupid NRA avocats will never be convinced until one of their children are killed & then they will probably blame their own child for getting in the way of the bullet(s)
Anonymous
Thu Dec 20 2012 13:14
The problem is not guns, the laws, or the people who govern laws. The problem starts with all of us. We choose to seek liberties to exercise our freedom of speech and to prove our diversity/acceptance. We got what we wanted, but it came at a cost, a complete breakdown of morals, and values. I could give many examples, most of which will offend people. Instead of being fault finders, let us be solution based, my house is also made of glass...
Anonymous
Thu Dec 20 2012 10:46
Why are so many concerned if guns go away? Look at what Australia has done. If you studied as you said you have done in regard to gun violence, you will note that since they implemented their steps, there has NOT (!) been such a mass killing in 16 years. That stands repeating . . . 16 years.
Anonymous
Thu Dec 20 2012 10:43
Thanks Coach and you are most correct, and we are all a part of this system and any change that needs to be completed. Like your style coach Kelsey...much success down the road!
Karl Spaulding
Thu Dec 20 2012 10:03
Anon 05:37 wrote:

"Coach, if you're " not smart enough" to suggest a solution then keep your yap shut."

That sounds rather impolite to me, and I think I'm mainly on your side of this issue. When I first saw the article headline, I figured it would be yet another mindless "assault on guns." Yet the coach's message was thoughtful and measured. Maybe he would want to ban something. Maybe not. However, I have to take him at his word that he needed to "speak out" and encourage others to do so as well. I can respect that.

You also wrote:

"Mental health is the issue, not guns."

Mental health is a huge issue, but the reality is we are headed for a curtailment of government services and higher taxes. It doesn't look good. As for guns, they are part of the issue, like it or not. People like me see guns as part of the answer, while other folks will see them as most of the problem. School shootings are quite rare, yet this one will be exploited beyond all recognition for it's "gun control" potential. That doesn't look good either. Tons of money will be wasted on political lobbying that could be better spent on mental health services, better school safety plans (yes, possibly including armed teachers), or at least, more cops in schools.

We've been through the false "assault weapon" (sic) ban crap before. It didn't work. Crime is at a low point now due primarily to demographics (low numbers of the peak crime prone population of young males), while there are more guns in the U.S. than ever before. How did that happen? Now a tragedy has occurred, so it's time to ban a buncha guns whether it helps or not!

I have studied guns and violence for a couple decades now and my belief is more restrictive gun legislation won't help one bit. The type and numbers of weapons in a society have little or nothing to do with the amount of violence in that society. Private ownership of firearms has as many pro-social benefits as it does anti-social detriments, if not more. That last bit comes from Dr. Gary Kleck, the leading guns and violence researcher in the U.S. and perhaps the world.

My knowledge base does not come from the NRA. It is multidisciplinary and took a lot of study, training and attention to the "other side" in order to avoid bias-confirmation. It's based on many books, pro and con, numerous journal articles, lots of firearms training and an understanding of self-defense and our nation's history. That stuff can't be covered in an hour long TV special, so many will see me as a nutcase gun lover.

Nothing I can do about that.

Karl

Anonymous
Thu Dec 20 2012 09:13
I've yet to see a gun grow two legs and discharge it's self.
Anonymous
Thu Dec 20 2012 08:35
It is sad to read continously that it isn't guns. Agree, there are many issues in play. BUT, guns are designed with one purpose. . . to kill. As far as I know, semi-automatics are not needed to hunt deer. Folks need to stop hiding behind the 2nd Amendment. The 2nd Amendment provides the right for a militia; not for each person to own a gun !!! The time is now to step up.
Anonymous
Thu Dec 20 2012 08:32
Mental issue is only a prt of the problem. Memntal issues didnt kill these kids the guns did. Cause of death was gunshot wounds I 'm not a gun contrlo person but enough is enough with the paranoia of the government busting down our doors to take our guns & more guns is the solution so we can fire back. This happened because this gun was in society.
Agree
Thu Dec 20 2012 07:14
ditto ^
Anonymous
Thu Dec 20 2012 05:37
Mental health is the issue. Mental health is the issue. Mental health is the issue. Not guns. Sick people will find ways to do whatever their sick brains tell them to do. Don't forget, a little over ten years ago thousands of people died and our country was changed forever by a few sick bastards with box cutters.

The president will not fix any of this. He will blame it on guns, make some worthless noise about mental health, throw a lot of money at ineffective mental health groups, make a couple empty speeches about parenting, wipe away fake tears and in the end... change the gun laws. Then, after that, some damaged soul will fill a flatbed with amonia and fertilizer and blow up a building and kill hundreds. Mental health is the issue.

Coach, if you're " not smart enough" to suggest a solution then keep your yap shut. Here's a solution, recognize early when a person is damaged and either fix them or put them away. Recognize and fix what breaks people. We as a nation have been damaging our children, breaking our children for decades. We fu&% up their reality and them give them fantasy as a replacement reality, an alternate reality. Then we wonder why things like the murders at Sandy Hook happen.

The event was the effect of a sick and or broken brain. A broken brain that was never ever fixed. A broken brain belonging to a lunatic who should have been put away years ago. Instead, he was allowed to hide in his room, create a fantasy reality where he was strong and not broken. He should have been put away. Had he been put away, twenty babies would be alive today to celebrate Christmas with their families.

Mental health is the issue, not guns.

Anonymous
Wed Dec 19 2012 12:37
I didn't like this article UNTIL I read the last paragraph because people keep making this slaughtering of babies political when it isn't!!! This idiot died by his mother's parenting (enabling an unstable mind with weapons/training). REAL change starts at Coach's front door I agree!!!! I keep telling all my friends I watched my mother bury my sister (killed getting off a school bus) so you don't know pain until you bury a CHILD!!! RIP angels....my daughter (Buckeye grad) noticed I rarely discussed my tragedy until this happened!




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