Bob Costas talks gun control during half time.

[FromAtoZ]

Quote:

Bob Costas gun control speech: Twitter takes aim Costas gun riff

By KATIE GLUECK | 12/3/12 10:26 AM EST

Herman Cain was among the conservatives who sacked NBC broadcaster Bob Costas on Twitter after he offered support for gun control on a “Sunday Night Football” halftime segment on the broadcast of the Dallas Cowboys-Philadelphia Eagles game.

The comments from Costas came a day after a Kansas City Chiefs football player killed himself after shooting the mother of his child.

“You want some actual perspective on this?” Costas said.

He pointed viewers to a piece by the Kansas City-based writer Jason Whitlock, and then quoted and paraphrased the article extensively on-air.

“Our current gun culture, Whitlock wrote, ensures that more and more domestic disputes will end in the ultimate tragedy,” Costas said. He added later, continuing to paraphrase, “Handguns do not enhance our safety. They exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments, and bait us into embracing confrontation rather than avoiding it… here, wrote Jason Whitlock, is what I believe: if Jovan Belcher didn’t possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today.”

Here’s a look at the Twitter firestorm Costas sparked:

Herman Cain

• ✔

@THEHermanCain

You tune in for a football game and end up listening to Bob Costas spewing sanctimonious dreck. #Terrible bit.ly/YHnD1f

 3 Dec 12

John Nolte@NolteNC

Bob Costas Exploits NFL Murder/Suicide to Take Our Gunsshar.es/6jbKd via @BreitbartNews

 3 Dec 12

Amy Kremer@AmyKremer

So I guess Bob Costas created a firestorm. Should have stuck to football.

2 Dec 12

Dana Loesch

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@DLoesch

Firearms aren’t scary, firearm ignorance and a lack of respect for life are scary, Bob Costas.

2 Dec 12

Rick Wilson@TheRickWilson

So, Bob Costas compounds tragedy with idiocy. Bad show.

2 Dec 12

Brian Walsh@brianjameswalsh

Fair question - who is less popular in the great state of Texas tonight - the Philadelphia Eagles or Second Amendment opponent Bob Costas.

2 Dec 12

Greg Abbott@GregAbbott_TX

That may seal a #Cowboys victory! Despite Bob Costas.

2 Dec 12

Phil Kerpen

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@kerpen

Let's be honest; Bob Costas's sportscasting is every bit as smug, annoying, and unbearable as his political grandstanding.

2 Dec 12

Todd Kincannon@ToddKincannon

I think Bob Costas owes America an apology. And I think he should be fired from Sunday Night Football.

2 Dec 12

Jason Lewis@jasonlewisshow

Bob Costas is most concerned with making his own headlines. If he wants to talk about violent 'cultures,' noticed he left out the NFL.

3 Dec 12

Liz Mair@LizMair

So, another reason to think Bob Costas is a waste of space this AM...

3 Dec 12

Michelle Malkin

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@michellemalkin

==> Bob Costas hijacks Sunday Night Football to give anti-gun lecture twitchy.com/2012/12/02/bob…

2 Dec 12

Source is HERE.

And....................go................

[rocketracer]

So why not ban a concussion causing sport that leads to diminished mental capacity?

So why not ban sharp or blunt instruments?

So why not ban cross bows?

So why not ban the use of fist?

All have caused the death of someone.

[katy_kay08]

I do think a frank and honest discussion on how often conflict resolution steps are skipped when a gun is handy is needed.  All to often people that worry you are going to try to pry the gun from their hands will start and finish a discussion with "guns don't kill people, people do" but that helps no one in the end because the reality is that people with guns kill people and you can't remove the gun from the scenario and get to the same result in so many cases.  

I think of that situation with the man in Florida that shot and killed a teenager in a car over an argument about music.  Would that even be part of the dialog if the man wasn't armed?  

It also doesn't work to suggest that legal gun owners never make these mistakes of judgement, because so often those that end up on killing end of a gun have come by it legally.  

Yes there are many other ways to kill people but until death by bow and arrow comes even close to the gun violence statistics it's all just a distraction.  

[littlelimom]

He has a right to his opinion. Lets not forget that this was 24 hours after a beautiful woman,mother, sister, and daughter was violently gunned down. I'm sure emotions are raw all around the NFL. 

[tooptimistic]

and CARS.. More people die in cars everyday than from guns.

Quoting rocketracer:

So why not ban a concussion causing sport that leads to diminished mental capacity?

So why not ban sharp or blunt instruments?

So why not ban cross bows?

So why not ban the use of fist?

All have caused the death of someone.

[Woodbabe]

[kailu1835]

Yeah, that royally ticked me off.  It completely ignores the real facts of the situation. 

1. If the guy was so angry he was willing to shoot his girlfriend, he would have stabbed her if that would have been the only thing available.

2. The UK is the violent crime capital of the world, dispite their gun-free country.

3. Switzerland has the fewest gun crimes per capita, dispite the fact that the government issues each and ever citizen a fully automatic firearm, complete with training them to use them.

[kailu1835]

Take a look at the UK statistics.  You're 4 times as likely to be stabbed in the UK as you are to be shot in the US.  Guns are not the problem, people with violent tendancies are the problem.

Quoting katy_kay08:

I do think a frank and honest discussion on how often conflict resolution steps are skipped when a gun is handy is needed.  All to often people that worry you are going to try to pry the gun from their hands will start and finish a discussion with "guns don't kill people, people do" but that helps no one in the end because the reality is that people with guns kill people and you can't remove the gun from the scenario and get to the same result in so many cases.  

I think of that situation with the man in Florida that shot and killed a teenager in a car over an argument about music.  Would that even be part of the dialog if the man wasn't armed?  

It also doesn't work to suggest that legal gun owners never make these mistakes of judgement, because so often those that end up on killing end of a gun have come by it legally.  

Yes there are many other ways to kill people but until death by bow and arrow comes even close to the gun violence statistics it's all just a distraction.  

[ReadWriteLuv]

We switched over to MNF from The Walking Dead last night just in time to see this little rant. My jaw hit the floor when I heard this. I was APPALLED. Sorry Bob Costas, I turn to you to report sports scores, I don't care to hear your personal opinion on gun control. That man killed himself and his girlfriend because he WANTED to. Had he not owned a hand gun, he would have stabbed her, and himself. Don't blame the gun.

[ReadWriteLuv]

He has a right to his opinion, however that platform was not his to discuss gun control. He is a sports reporter, for a major network, and is paid to be a half time and post game commentator. It was inappropriate for him to make those comments reffering to his personal belief on a subject he isn't contracted to discuss.

Quoting littlelimom:

He has a right to his opinion. Lets not forget that this was 24 hours after a beautiful woman,mother, sister, and daughter was violently gunned down. I'm sure emotions are raw all around the NFL. 

[whitleypittman]

Still gonna buy a gun from my BIL. Cause I can LEGALLY do so.
Gun control isn't the issue. People illegally buying guns when they have no training and no respect for the gun or for human life is the problem. If you make it impossible for legal gun owners to keep their guns, the only ones with guns will be criminals.