EL BARRIO, EL FALLS – Happy Memorial Day! Apologies in advance for bringing current events into a sports piece but this past week won’t let me go! I can’t talk about sports without first discussing the tragic shootings. And if Steve Kerr can do it, so can I. Here’s the slate: Gun Debate, Rangers force Game 7, NBA Finals Set.
Gun Debate
I am bringing up the gun debate because I live where one of the tragedies unfolded – the mass murder/shooting event in Buffalo. This was followed by the tragedy at Uvalde. These stick with me because I physically resemble the victims of the Buffalo incident and because my kids share a strong physical resemblance to the majority of the 19 children massacred, as per the different ethnic makeups of my wife and me. We as a country have failed our children and are failing as a society. As a liberal, there seems to be this propaganda that I/we want to ban guns and take them away. That is gun company propaganda; it is why gun sales go up after these massacres. That is not where I stand at all. I don’t like guns one bit but I know where a live and the kind of country we have.
The Second Amendment gives us a right to bear arms: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” The “well regulated” part is what I believe in. You want to own 20-30-100 guns, that is fine with me. However, we have more regulations on driving a car than owning a gun in most states. Cars aren’t designed to kill and yet they kill a lot of people a year. We need to treat owning a gun the same way. You should need to pass a written/typed test and then take a live shooting drill test with a certified instructor at a gun range. THEN you can get your license. We also need to move the gun-buying age to 21. You can buy a house at 18 but need a co-signer. That’s because you have no credit history. 95 percent of 18 year-olds are going to have a clean record because unless you did time in juvenile corrections, your record will be clean. We don’t know if the 18 year-old has mental issues or is normal. Waiting 3 years will allow time for a record and/or personal development. If you can’t get a co-signer at age 18-20 to buy a gun, that sounds like a character issue. The argument, “it won’t work and bad guys will just buy it underground,” is nonsense. The last 15 mass murderers have bought their weapons legally.
We also need a beefed-up background check. Have tech companies report threatening behavior to the Feds. I don’t care about security or whatever. We wouldn’t allow an ice cream company to skip a safety test because they are big and do so much, so why do we allow tech companies to use AI to connect wingnuts with others that believe nonsense on social platforms?
There is always the argument that this stops the good guy from buying a gun with ease. Here’s the thing, though, I am a black man that had to live through stop and frisk. I was the good guy constantly inconvenienced but it was okay because there are bad guys out there. We have many rules in society where we inconvenience the good guy – because there are so many bad guys that abuse the system – but when it comes to guns, we cant do it. Why not? Any real good guy shouldn’t care. If you like and respect guns, you know these madmen are giving gun owners a bad name. So wouldn’t want to make moves to reclaim the dignity of gun ownership? I will stop here but this may be the straw that gets me back into political activism.
Now back to sports…
NY Rangers Win Game 6
The Comeback Kids, aka the NY Rangers, did it again… It is the same intro because it is true. The Rangers won games 3 and 4 in New York. They lost game 5 but it was close as it was tied at 1-1 and it looked like the Rangers scored the go ahead goal before it was called back by replay for offside. The Hurricanes went on to score and then added an empty-netter to win 3-1… In NY in game 6, the Rangers never trailed. Igor Shesterkin played brillantly again as he has done all season and series long. I never played hockey but I imagine knowing you have an in-form goalie like Shesterkin must be huge for the players. The Blueshirts went up 3-0 before it went to 3-1, then 4-1. Finally it was 4-2. One key to the victory was the reunification of the Kid Line. Alex Lafreniere, Filip Chytil and Kappo Kakko are the Kid Line and Chytil scored two goals. This is clearing the top line for the Rangers during playoffs and it will take another great performance from that line – and the Rangers can win. Lets go Rangers!
NBA Finals Set
The Golden State Warriors made light work of Luka Doncic and the Mavericks. It was a 5-game sweep. Game 4 was the night of the Uvalde tragedy and it seemed to affect the Warriors ability to close it out… In the East, it was almost Maimi but it will be Boston. The Heat came back from 3-2 and won game 6 in Boston. The Heat also came back from a 14-point deficit to make the game competitive but in the end Jayson Tatum and the Celtics eked out a 100-96 win and a ticket to the final.
Thanks for reading, feel free to comment below. Come back tomorrow for our Ben Whitney, who will have analysis Game 7 of Rangers v Hurricanes… and talk about the Mets winning without their aces.
