Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has called on politicians to make it harder to purchase “those crazy guns that everybody’s using”.
The 25-year-old, who took the Bengals to the Super Bowl in February, was asked about his views on gun reform during a press conference on Tuesday.
“With everything that’s going on, if you’re not going to outlaw everything, you’ve gotta at least make it harder to get those crazy guns that everybody’s using,” Burrow replied.
“I don’t think you should be able to just walk in there and buy one. You gotta be able to go through a rigorous process to be able to buy something like that I think.
“Hopefully the people that get paid to make those decisions figure that out.
“My job is to play football but hopefully the politicians can figure that one out.”
Burrow’s comments drew praise from gun reform activists on Twitter.
Fred Guttenburg, whose daughter Jaime was killed in the 2018 Parkland shooting, said: “Thank you Joe Burrow.”
Former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander said: “No one would be surprised if he stayed neutral, said violence is bad but also people’s rights are good so I hope we can all come together.
“Instead, he said it’s too easy to buy a gun, especially certain guns.”
A bipartisan group of Senators said on Sunday they had reached a deal on modest gun reform measures.
The legislation would expand background checks for people under age 21 to include a search of juvenile justice registries, as well as a federal grant program that will encourage states to pass red flag laws, which allow family members or law enforcements to petition courts to temporarily restrict certain persons from owning firearms.
It also bans those convicted of domestic abuse from owning a firearm.
On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would support the package, which also includes “billions” in funding for mental health treatment programs and efforts to improve security in schools across the country.
Sen Chris Murphy, the lead Democratic negotiator on the legislation, said in a statement that the framework was a “breakthrough” that if passed “will save thousands of lives”.
House Democrats, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have expressed concerns that the legislation could cause “juvenile criminalisation”.
