-By Warner Todd Huston
After a player for the Kansas City Chiefs killed his girlfriend and then himself, NBC Sportscaster Bob Costas took time out of his Sunday Night Football broadcast to commit what many thought was an attack on the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Now, Costas says his remarks were a “mistake.”
During his Sunday broadcast, Costas seemed to favorably quote a left-wing commentator who decried America’s fascination with firearms.
Instantly fans and members of the media alike began to criticize Costas’ insertion of political matters into his football broadcast.
Fox News’ Brit Hume, for instance, quickly Tweeted, “Bob Costas quotes KC sportswriter to make gun control case re: Jovan Belcher murder/suicide. Cites all known gun control cliches.”
By Tuesday, Costas tried to calm his critics. As Keith Jackson may have said, “Whoa, Nellie! Let’s walk this thing back!”
“My mistake is I left it open for too much miscommunication,” Costas said in a lengthy interview on “The Dan Patrick Show.” The 90-second weekly spot, he said, doesn’t offer enough time in which to adequately discuss the issue of “the football culture, the gun culture, domestic violence.”
Costas claimed that he was just misunderstood and his “mistake” was in not having enough time to make himself clear on the air.
So, what does he really think of the Second Amendment?
“Here’s where I stand: I do not want to see the Second Amendment repealed. … People should be allowed to own guns for their own protection. Obviously, those who are hunters. … Access to guns is too easy in some cases. I don’t see any reason a citizen should be able to arm himself in some states in ways only police or military should — to have a virtual militia [by] mail order or gun shows. Why do you need a semi-automatic weapon? What possible use is there? … Whitlock wrote about a gun culture. That’s what I was focusing on.”
Apparently Costas wants to keep the rights in the Second Amendment as they are but also wants to make sure no one is allowed to exercise them.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
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