MMQB’s Peter King ‘Applauds’ Sean Payton for Speaking Out on Vegas Shooting

Getty Images Peter-King
Getty Images
Dylan Gwinn

In light of last weekend’s shooting in Las Vegas, a couple prominent members of the sports world made their opinions on gun control known on Tuesday. However, after listening to those opinions, it’s probably best for all concerned if those people go back to simply being prominent members of the sports world.

First, Saints head coach Sean Payton chimed-in with a tweet using some extremely out of context figures provided by the New York Times:

These figures don’t tell the complete story. For example, the majority of those gun-related deaths were suicides, not murders. In addition to the fact that the military deaths only account for battle casualties, not the higher number you would get, if accidents and training mistakes were factored in.

Though, why let a little thing like context get in the way if you feel like you have a statistic that proves your point?

Later Tuesday evening, Payton’s tweet got a mention and kudos from the Monday Morning Quarterback’s Peter King. Who referenced murdered Saints defensive end Will Smith, and said that he applauds Payton for speaking out on the issue:

A couple things about this, for those who may have only vague memories of Will Smith’s murder, the former Saints defensive end was murdered after a traffic dispute in New Orleans in 2016. Though, according to an eyewitness, Smith, was the actual aggressor in the situation.

According to the New York Post, here’s how an eyewitness saw the incident between Smith, and his eventual killer, Cardell Hayes. The witness said, “This guy was like, ‘Get out of the f–king car, I have a gun.’ ”

The witness continued, “And he [supposedly then referring to suspect Cardell Hayes] goes, ‘F–k y’all, I got one, too,’ and he [Hayes] grabs a gun and shoots him [Smith] in the back. He’s dead.”

Clearly, from this account, there’s nothing senseless about what happened there. Tragic? Absolutely, no one would say otherwise. But it’s clear that Smith, by making threats that he had a gun and then turning to go get it, helped create the situation that ultimately resulted in his death.

Also missing from this conversation is any discussion of what law would have prevented what happened in Las Vegas. Nor does it address the fact that most of the weapons used in mass shootings are not “assault rifles,” the type of which would normally be illegal under an assault weapons ban.

By using the word “Enough,” King does not make a policy statement or a plan for the future. Then again, that’s why these guys need to go stick to being prominent members of the sports media.

 

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.