During yesterday’s Sunday Night Football halftime show, Bob Costas decided to comment on gun control. He used Javon Belcher’s death as a means to discuss his point-of-view on the topic. He quoted someone else’s article. He pretty much insinuated that had Belcher not owned a handgun, his girlfriend and he would still be alive.
Here are my problems with his comments:
- Bob Costas is SPORTS COMMENTATOR. He IS NOT a POLITICAL COMMENTATOR. Therefore, he really shouldn’t be expressing his personal opinions on the matter. Yes, he began discussing the football related murder, but he sidestepped that to discuss his feelings on gun control in general. If he decided to go on NBC’s “Today Show” the next morning to discuss his personal feelings then I don’t oppose that decision. People watch the morning talk shows for a myriad of reasons. People however do not watch SNF (Sunday Night Football) for his opinions on policy issues. That isn’t what he is paid to do.
- I think in a way he used the tragic deaths to propagandize his opinion on national television. The time would have been better spent covering Kasandra Perkins, Belcher’s girlfriend, and her three-month-old child. Our thoughts should have been for the innocent victims of this tragedy. A girlfriend killed by her boyfriend who snapped and a three-month-old who is now an orphan.
- I don’t think it is appropriate to insinuate that Perkins and Belcher would still be alive had handguns been banned. I don’t think it is fair to the Belcher and Perkins family to insinuate there is something that could have been done to prevent this. The unfortunate truth is that Belcher would have committed his crimes in another manner.
