On Thursday (Oct. 1), a gunman opened fire at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, killing ten people, including himself. On the same day, a five-month-old baby, Aavielle Wakefield, was shot and killed in Cleveland. As the country and Congress debate over whether stricter gun control laws should be enacted, Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James took a stand on the issue in an interview following practice on Friday (Oct. 2).
“Four kids under the age of five or six years old have been shot and killed or very badly injured [in Cleveland],” James said, according to The Associated Press. “There’s no room for that. There’s no room for guns, first of all, but then for violence toward kids or anybody. I see the news go across my phone and I’m sitting there in front of my three kids, so it automatically just hit me. It’s not just in Cleveland, it’s the whole nation that goes through this as well. We all hurt from it.”
While the NBA star also took to social media following the shooting death of Wakefield, urging the city of Cleveland to “do better and be better.”
Like seriously man!!!! A baby shot in the chest in Cleveland. It’s been out of control but it’s really OOC. Ya’ll need to chill the F out.
— LeBron James (@KingJames) October 1, 2015
C’mon man let’s do and be better! Don’t fall into the trap. This can’t be only way. Accept more from yourselves. #TheLand #TheNation — LeBron James (@KingJames) October 1, 2015
“I know what I see. I know how I feel,” he also said after practice. “Obviously you’re not going to be able to take every gun out. I don’t know how you can do that. There’s so many around now, today. But if there’s some stipulations behind it or some penalties, some big time penalties or rules or regulations about carrying firearms, legal or illegal, people will second-guess themselves.”