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Subscribe to RSSNBC Sports' Bob Costas speaks out in this exclusive interview with Lawrence O'Donnell about his Sunday night comments on the gun culture of America and the murder-suicide committed by Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher.
NBC Sports commentator Bob Costas on Tuesday expanded on comments he made Sunday about the need for gun control in the wake of the murder-suicide of an NFL player.
"What I was talking about here – and I’m sorry if that wasn’t clear to everybody – was a gun culture," Costas said on MSNBC’s “Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell,” referring to comments he made during his weekly half-time slot on NBC's Sunday Night Football. "I never mentioned the Second Amendment. I never used the words gun control. People inferred that. Now, do I believe that we need more comprehensive and sensible gun control? Yes I do. That doesn’t mean repeal the Second Amendment."
Costas sparked a firestorm when he read from a column written by Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock, saying: "If Jovan Belcher didn't possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today."
Belcher, a Kansas City Chiefs linebacker, shot and killed his 22-year-old girlfriend Kasandra Perkins on Saturday, before fatally shooting himself. The gun he used was registered legally, police confirmed on Monday.
Related: Report: Belcher shot girlfriend then kissed her forehead
Following Costas's comments, social media sites lit up as people sided with Costas or berated him.
In his interview with O'Donnell, Costas emphasized a gun culture "that demonstrates itself in different ways":
"It demonstrates itself in the Wild West, Dirty Harry mentality of people who actually believe that if a number of people were armed in the theater in Aurora, they would have been able to take down this nut-job in body armor and military-style artillery," he said. "It plays itself out in the inner cities where teenage kids are somehow armed to the hilt. And it plays itself in the sports world where young athletes are disproportionately armed."
Read more at The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
Costas relayed an anecdote relayed to him by Tony Dungy, former head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. Dungy asked 80 football players at training camp if they owned a gun. Sixty-five hands went up.
"Even if all those guns were obtained legally, you can’t have 65 guys in their 20s – aggressive young men subject to impulses, without something bad happening," Costas said.
He continued: "Give me one example of an athlete – I know it’s happened in society – give me one example of an athlete by virtue of his having a gun, took a dangerous situation and turned it around for the better. I can’t think of a single one. Sadly, I can think of dozens that by virtue of having a gun, a professional athlete wound up in a tragic situation."
Responding to criticism that Costas didn't blame Belcher for the murder of his girlfriend: "No one is saying that Belcher is not responsible. However, the ready easy availability of guns makes mayhem easier. The easy availability of guns makes this sort of thing far more likely to occur."
Meanwhile Fox's Whitlock told Roland Martin of Roland Martin Reports that he hadn't gone far enough in his original commentary. He said that he took advantage of writing about gun violence in his column because so many people ignore the real world but they do pay attention to sports.
"I believe the NRA is the new KKK," Whitlock said. "And that the arming of so many black youths, and loading up our community with drugs, and then just having an open shooting gallery, is the work of people that obviously don’t have our best interests."
NBC's Kari Huus and Isolde Raftery contributed to this report.
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Sad/bad thing is that due to some paranoia or love to blow things away or whatever turns someone on to owning handguns and assault weapons, ends up they would rather spend all their free cash on those than pay a little more in local taxes to have enough police enforcement to protect them so they don't need to have an arsenal. Build your local police up first, then arm yourselves if you have the free cash/credit to after paying the taxes, plus leave some in your wallet to pay for training on firearms by professionals. If all you have any money for left after basic expenses is building an arsenal, you need a better job or better place to move to.
to BigBear - it is NOT the job of the police to run around protecting you.
It is to stop crime IF they are notifed in time - if you are threatened in some way - and to investigate a crime AFTER it has veen committed - like hanging yellow tape around the area of your dead body.
No crime, no cop. Stop being naieve'.
Ted Nugent will be giving the rebuttal at half time next Sunday for those that are interested.
IF you're serious, I KNOW that will be interesting!!!! Thanks ANJP :D
Ted Nugent is your representative on this issue, eh? What a classy, well-informed, mature guy. Let's see, some of his classics include: Wang Dang Sweet Poontang and Cat Scratch Fever (a song that makes light of contracting v.d.). Do you mind choosing someone with just a tad more credibility? Just admitting that you believe- in/follow Ted's rants and antics destroys your own credibility. Trust me on that one.
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If Costas is afraid of athletes in their 20s with guns, he must be terrified of the US Army. Thousands and thousands of young men armed to the teeth defending his right to shoot off his ignorant mouth about something he clearly can't comprehend.
As I understand the shoddy reporting of MSNBC and read bewteen the lines..... it goes, the couple were having issues - the football players "needy" girl friend was out with another guy ("watching" a movie.... yeah right I was 20 something at one time) while the football player was immersed in "working" long hours. And now its about gun control?
How many stories are done in a years time regarding jealousy and its aftermath?
Maybe Mr. Costas you should be doing a story about society and society's failure in the upbringing of ones children, morals, commitment and consequences? Or maybe just stick to reporting sports like horse shoes... that's a pretty simple game.
Mr. Costas, you are EXACTLY RIGHT. Thank you for having the courage to say it to all the gun nutz who are incapable of seeing beyond their own barrel.
to Valid - why is it that anyone who enjoys something is a (blank ) nut ?? Car nut, boat nut, golf nut -
I like grapes - does that make me a grapenut ??
valid, invalid you need to leave the country now. Plain and simple get out.
NBC / MSNBC are just Liberal mouthpieces. The great news recently is that another Liberal rag - The New York Times - is having more financial difficulty and has to lay off people.
Maybe NBC will follow downhill and fire Costas for causing so much trouble. LMAO !!!
We can always boycott NBC shows and sports and, even better, their sponsors until they fire Costas.
I'm reminded of the actress Sharon Stone. She used to go on and on about gun control and how evil guns were in general. Then someone jumped the fence into her gated community and then broke into her house while she was home. You can probably guess the rest. She went into her bedroom and brought out a shotgun and confronted the guy with it and drove him out of the house. Typical liberal hypocrite.
Lobster your an idiot because you called her a hypocrite, because she used a gun for protection and it was a shot gun a hunting gun. Moron!
You are one who probably should not have guns.
Listen moron, Stone said she believed that NO ONE, let me repeat, NO ONE should own a firearm of any kind in the US. She had one herself...so that makes her a HYPOCRITE. Jeez, what an idiot!
Rush, if YOU'RE going to tell people why they're an idiot and engage in petty name calling, you may want to first learn the difference between YOUR, which is second person possessive, and YOU'RE, which is a contraction of the words YOU ARE.
because she is an "actress" who flashed her crotch and made some money back in the 90s, yes she should be the final say on the second amendment in the states. thanks for pointing this out. rosie odonnel or whatever her name is used armed guards to protect her children while saying something similar to ms stone's comments on the evils of gun ownership.
Bravo Bob now lets watch the GOP lobby whores go crazy.
We need to clean house in 2014 and throw all the GOP trash out!
to rushless- I just sent in a donation to the NRA - looks like now I will have to send in another one instead of sending some money to the local food pantry or to donate Christmas toys for kids.
Keep it up Lib-sh*t - there are priorities !
The problem with this country was clearly stated by Jason Whitlock in his article following the shooting. Whitlock referred to the acts committed by a "25 year old kid." This is the problem; a lack of accountability. Instead of saying Belcher is man who committed a reprehensible act and forever sullied his name by taking the life of an innocent victim we have the likes of Costas and Whitlock making excuses for inexcusable actions and blaming society and "gun culture." By saying Belcher was a "kid" is another way of making him less culpable for his actions. Adults are responsible for their own actions; I for one bristle at the thought of my liberties being stripped due the actions of a few.
Your post is 100% correct. What the hell happened to the vital and valuable qualities in Americans such as personal accountability, responsibility, simple courtesy, respect and manners? Anyone familiar with Costas' work KNEW he was going to backpedal after his idiotic statement and condescending lecture. He has the attitude of the typical kid "who no one picked to play any sports on any sandlot team ever." So he became a writer/reporter (those whom cannot do become critics). WHitlock, well I'll post later about this affirmative action mistake and his lack of any maturity or creativity. He's an enabler of blacks and a racist towards whites and hispanics. If you seriously believe "Whitless" has much credibility and knowledge on the subject of guns and gun control then you probably believe in the "Easter Beagle" the "Great Pumpkin" and Santa Claus. Good luck with that.
What an idiot Bob Costas is . Just because his poor football player was a freak job he is now trying to blame this on guns . Maybe they shouldn't have pumped the mental case full of steroids . They just added to his problem . maybe he had just one to many concussions from playing the sport that caused him not to think normally .
Exactly, why doesn't he do a segment on those issues?
When the L.A. riots spilled into my neighborhood, I called 911 and heard a recording that said all units were busy. So, I loaded my weapon and stayed inside for three days until the National Guard took control. So, Bob Costas, as you live in your posh, cozy big home in a safe neighborhood and prosthelytize to your fellows. It's not a captive audience, so I changed the channel. In the 1600s, John Locke said that all people have the right to life, liberty and property. No one has the right to take anyone's rights away but everyone has the right to protect those rights. Those who hurt others should be punished to the fullest extent. I'm not calling to ban his microphone, it's his freedom of speech but it's my right to disagree.
While I'm not pro/anti gun anything, it does piss me off when I read my local news (a few days ago) and see that at around 10:30 p.m. a farmer heard shots outside his home. He went out to see a jeep driving off and found 3 off his dairy cows shot in the head. Luckily he was able to gets the license plate # and it turned out to be a 14 & 17 year old boy using a high powered rifle. When the cops were looking for the littlt punks the mom of one said they were supposed to be out hunting coytote WTF??? Seems like at that age there should be an adult around even if they had been hunting, but what do I know? This also happend about 4 years ago with some guys out deer hunting who for some stupid reson up and decided to shoot a belgian draft horse named Ben (broke the families heart) at leats the asswipe did/is doing time! :(
On his inauguration, President Obama was protected by the Secret Service, 11,500 soldiers and 4,000 police officer. They have armor and automatic weapons. No one is assigned to protect my family!
Did Costas say, "If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit?" My mistake, that was Johnny Cochrane.... But if I remember correctly a man and a lady were killed with a knife and a football player was the prime suspect. Bob, a person doesn't need to kill with a gun. A bad decsion leads to murder.
Doesn't matter what happened to Belcher. The fact remains he murdered the mother of his child. He could have stabbed her, strangled her, or smacked her upside the head with a cast iron skillet. She'd be just as dead.
FIRE WHITLOCK!!!
The anti-gun control fanatics have thier panties in a bunch because someone dared to utter a phrase that they don't like.
Well, Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa......
Here's the FACT folks - Costas did not say 'guns kill people'. He repeated what a FOX NEWS sports writer had written: that if Belcher didn't have a gun available to him that day, it's very likely that he and his girlfriend would not be dead. He didn't say 'the gun did it' (as in 'guns' kill people), nor did he say he wanted to take guns away from anyone.
What he quoted AND agreed with is simple: The widespread availability of guns leads to more frequent use of them when someone is mentally disturbed, extremely angry, and extremely depressed. Argue with that FACT by using facts, not rhetoric.
Would he have used a knife / a brick / run her over with a car / whatever 'other method' you want to bring up ??
Neither of us can say for sure one way or the other - however, the odds are far less likely that the murder and the suicide would have happened because of the alternate method of murder/suicide. It takes far more time to do it, making it far more personal and far less 'spur of the moment' that 'point and click' from a distance with a gun (from decision to dying/dead is fractions of a second vs. the time it takes to prepare and accomplish the murder/suicide).
Would he have done it without the gun? No one knows - but he would have had to think alot more before doing it if he didn't have one.
Would the 'loud music at the gas station' guy have killed the kid in the car just the other day if he didn't have a gun on him? Probably not. He most likely wouldn't have been so bold without the 'lead courage' he had in his pocket.
That's what Costas was talking about. Not all this pretend crap that idiots like Nugent and Huckabee were spewing.
As you can tell I agree with Costas.
And I beleive in the 2nd amendent. I also own guns. Just bought myself a nice .40 cal semi-automatic handgun too. Didn't have to wait for the waiting period because of my concealed carry permit. Yet I nearly never carry. I don't feel compelled to carry by irrationally out of proportion fear of a one in a billion chance of coming across a situation where I would need to protect myself from someone with a gun. However, if I'm in an area or a situation where my risk is higher, then of course - I'm not stupid, I'll carry.
You have your "facts" wrong, not surprisingly. Costas and the news report he quoted did not say it was "very likely" the the couple would be alive without a gun involved, they said they would "still be alive" if not for the gun, which is a definitive statement unlike what you made up. And that is a foolish and ridiculous thing to say because no one can possibly know the football player wouldn't have found another way to commit the murder/suicide.
@FormerMarineSgt - Some good points, and I first want to thank you for your military service. You're very much appreciated.
I disagree on the main point, however. You correctly re-stated the words of Bob Costas, but what exactly do you think his point was? Do you actually believe that Mr. Costas believes in every law-abiding American's right to bear arms? I suspect he does not.
Many liberals will mumble their respect for the constitution, and they're very quick to defend the 1st amendment (rightfully so) from all the abuse made in it's name (especially since Hollywood and the media abuse it all the time), but they're the first in line to trash the 2nd amendment. I have a message for them .... it'll NEVER happen. Millions of law-abiding citizens will stand up to anyone who tries to dismantle the 2nd amendment to the constitution. And that is exactly what the founding fathers had in mind when the Bill of Rights was written.
My my my Sgt. so much fail.
FACT, the mere presence of more guns DOES NOT EQUAL more crime.
The fact is, gun ownership over the last few years has gone up while less and less crimes are being commited. The facts state the exact oppisite of your premise.
Bob Costas sucks. No one wants hear his ramblings about gun control. He needs to report on the sports action nothing more. He is a terrible commentator and does not know when to shut up. Anyone who watched the opening ceremonies of the London Olympics would agree. If he wants to make comment on social issues NBC should put him their morning show or on their evening news.
Alright Mo!!
On his inauguration, President Obama was protected by the Secret Service, 11,500 soldiers and 4,000 police officers. They have armor and automatic weapons. No one is assigned to protect my family! (except me) Thank God for the second amendment.
And it starts.........soon the second amendment will go away and we will be defenseless. Better buy your guns off the market like the criminals do and HIDE them because soon big brother will be coming for them...
No one is taking away your guns. That's not what Costas was talking about, but then most on here can't hear... or read.
I read what Costas said. You can't deny that the undertone of his comments is anti-gun. That was the intent of the comment or he wouldn't have said it. We are not completely ignorant to how media people sleaze their liberal ideas into people's heads. No one is taking away my guns anyway. They are welcome to try though.
Hey, Costas! It's the availability & proliferation of liberal media that creates mayhem in America. Why don't you get back to REPORTING the news, and stop trying to MAKE it?
Bob should get a medal. This whole issue is the biggest case of national denial ever seen. The Western countries cannot believe the power the Gun Lobby has over politicians. The squealing of the the gun groupies has to be seen to be believed. Just regulated gun control is all thats needed, what can a reasonably intelligent person's objections be to this? Quoting an outdated Town Square proclamation cannot be justification for this stupidity..
Guns? I spent two and a half years in Vietnam and shot probably close to a million rounds of ammo. I was a gunner on a helicopter gunship. I felt no need to own a rifle until just before this last election when I feared a Romney win might turn our country into anarchy. Silly perhaps. Being a liberal and not a NRA fan I still support gun ownership. It has kept invaders off of our shores. I also see the need to cut the military for that simple reason. We are safe as long as the security people in the airports and ports do their job. I agree with Steve in that there should be regulation prior to ownership. Some people with mental illness should not have guns. Not all. I have PTSD and can not get a handgun permit here in Minnesota because I voluntarily was in the VA hospital for depression. I'm pissed about it but can't do much about it. People who are underprivileged and grow up in poverty need to realize that guns don't solve problems. I feel awful that so many African-Americans get a raw deal and now Republicans want to cut education and other things that would benefit the black community. It will make things worse. When a talented football player escapes the world of poverty he gains a great living monetarily but because where he is from (not always) still has a huge influence on how he lives. A gun in poor communities is a proof of power. It is just a firearm to the rest of us. We need not to take guns out of peoples hands but make sure the are in trusted and responsible peoples hands.
costas why don't you stick to sports you can barely handle that. have you ever even fired a weapon? i doubt it! you're such a little pussy i'm sure you're ignorant about and afraid of firearms. god bless you.
I have an idea. Lets have a civil war between all the people who don't want to have guns and all the people who do and whoever wins then they can have their way.
Oh yeah, Costas, stick to sports.