NBA stars support campaign to end gun violence in new spot

Stephen Curry, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony and Joakim Noah are best known for running up and down a 90-foot wood floor.

“We’re not anxious about any political implications”, Kathleen Behrens, NBA president of social responsibility and player programs, tells the The New York Times.

In a move with little precedent in professional sports, the N.B.A.is putting the weight of its multibillion-dollar brand and the prestige of its star athletes behind a series of television commercials calling for an end to gun violence.

When Curry heard about a three-year-old girl who was shot to death, he immediately thought of his daughter Riley. “And we can do something about it”.

Director Spike Lee has lent his considerable talent to the gun safety message, sitting down with NBA All Stars and members of Bloomberg’s Everytown Survivor Network who shared their stories about how gun violence has affected them.

“My parents always used to say, ‘A bullet didn’t have a name on it, ‘ ” Mr. Paul recalls in the video, while Mr. Curry reflects on hearing about the shooting of a three-year old.

The ads focus on shooting victims and contain no policy recommendations with the words “gun control” never mentioned.

But the two men found common ground around aggressively rebutting the influence of pro-gun rights lobbying groups such as the National Rifle Association, with Lee describing a need to work toward what he called “common sense anti-gun laws”.

Earlier this month, Everytown released a video – “We Can End Gun Violence” – featuring a broad range of Americans including survivors of gun violence, President Obama and cultural icons including Julianne Moore, Michael J. Fox, Amy Schumer, Spike Lee, Jennifer Aniston and Sofia Vergara, among others.

“You have so many kids looking up to (NBA players)”, added Pamela Wright, who lost her son to gun violence at the age of seventeen. “Ultimately, it’s about saving lives”.