The Oregon Ducks had a dominant win over the Utah Utes on Saturday night, blasting the No. 13 team in the nation by a score of 35-6. But instead of celebrating in his press conference, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning took the opportunity to talk about an important issue: gun control.
During his press conference, Dan Lanning addressed the recent mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, that killed 18 people.
“What I’ll say right now is, where is the respect for human life? You know, I think there’s a lot more to this. I mean, people could say ‘Let’s make it about guns, and let’s make it about mental health.’ Why can’t we use a commonsense approach and make it about everything?” Lanning said.
“And this doesn’t mean taking a stance. … I just want to ask everybody, ‘What are we doing about it?’ We can’t continue to sit around and expect different results. [I] don’t think I’m sitting here talking about gun control, don’t think I’m talking about mental health. I’m talking about all of it. We’ve got a lot of smart people in this country. How about we do something to fix it?”
Watch the video and the message from Oregon head coach @CoachDanLanning https://t.co/kyV5hw21Co pic.twitter.com/y9r2OSlvs7
— Matt Prehm (@MattPrehm) October 29, 2023
Lanning said the issue hits home for him, as a parent of three children between the ages of 10 and 13, and called on everybody to “take a stand and do something about it.”
“I know that means a lot to our players. It certainly means something to me when I send my three kids to school and expect to see them come home. I think enough is enough at some point,” Lanning added.
“At some point, we have to look at ourselves and take a hard look in the mirror and figure out where can we support the people that are having problems with mental health in this country, where can we support making sure that people that shouldn’t have weapons don’t have weapons and support our law enforcement to where they can help handle situations when situations arise.
“I’m not trying to be political, but I do care about human life, and I do care about human decency. And I’m hoping that, at some point, we can take a stand and do something about it.”
It’s certainly a bold use of his press conference.
