NBA On TNT Crew Reacts To UNLV Shooting And Talks Gun Control

The NBA on TNT Inside Crew got serious before the semifinals of the inaugural in-season tournament held in Las Vegas Thursday night. The typically joking and laughing crew took a moment to openly discuss their thoughts on gun control and the tragic events that took place at UNLV on Wednesday afternoon.

Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kenny Smith all shared their thoughts on gun control and reacted to the shooting that happened a few miles from where they were sitting ahead of the semifinals of the in-season tournament.

"We are in Las Vegas on this December Thursday, where we thought, our sole focus would be on the semifinals of the first ever NBA in-season tournament. Wednesday changed that," Johnson said. "Because less than three miles from the arena here, on the campus of UNLV, there was chaos. It had happened again."

Johnson continued to somberly explain the mid-day shooting that took the lives of three people and has a fourth hospitalized that happened on the campus just about a mile from the world-famous Las Vegas Strip. It was reported that the shooter was a 67-year-old longtime college professor who may have applied for a job at the college and didn't get it and is now dead after being confronted by police.

"This is certainly not the way we envisioned coming on the air and welcoming you to another night of NBA coverage on TNT," Johnson continued. "There are times like this when real life far overshadows talking fun and games like we do for a living."

The NBA had a moment of silence before the Milwaukee Bucks took on the Indiana Pacers in their semifinal game earlier Thursday night. The league also delivered a statement addressing the UNLV shooting on Wednesday.

Following the shooting on Wednesday, LeBron James openly talking about gun control and now it's the Inside Crew's turn to bring awareness to the important conversation.

Barkley, who calls himself "a gun guy" said an important thing is to keep talking about the issue and not let it become a "lackadaisical" topic.

"I think the main thing, we gotta keep talking about it and fighting for it, because, you know, it happens so much you could become like, 'Oh, it's just another thing.' We should never ever as a society get to the point where you just get lackadaisical," Barkley said before saying we need to hold our politicians accountable.

"It should be hard to get a gun. Now, I'm a gun guy, I wanna make that clear. I'm a gun guy. But, it should be hard to get a gun but it's not, it's very easy."

He then said that living in Arizona, he can walk over to a store and get a gun in five minutes, and it simply shouldn't be that simple.

O'Neal, who has called Las Vegas his home for 30 years, shared his condolences to all affected by the campus shooting and gave his thoughts on mental health.

"Mental health is real. And I urge people, if you're having problems, if you're having thoughts, talk to somebody and try to get help," he said. "If you think about it, I don't like to profile people but, the guy was a professor. It's not like he was a guy that was dealing with criminal activities."

The NBA legend then reiterated what the NBA said - "another senseless shooting."

Smith then jumped in to pose a question for anyone, like Barkley, who claims to be a "gun guy."

"I always hear people say, like even Charles said 'I'm a gun guy,' I always ask Charles the question, 'When have you ever had to fire the gun?'" Smith said to which Barkley jumped in to answer, "Only when I'm practicing, I've never had to."

Smith jumped back in to repeat, "He never had to fire it."

"So my point is, it becomes solution based for people who are not in the right frame of mind because most people never have to use it, even if you are a gun person," Smith said. "There has to be, as LeBron said, a thought process of how you acquire it and the people who already have attained it, they have to meet some requirements as well."

Johnson then added some thoughts saying he looks at life differently now as he's aging. The 67-year-old said he now looks at life "through the lens of my grand kids" and wonders what kind of world they will be growing up to be in, which is scary.

"I just think as we see another one of these incidents, and you pointed it out, we can't be immune, it can't get to the point where we're just accepting this," he said. "And until humanity overtakes politics and everything else, I think we're gonna sadly see more."

NBA on TNT shared a carousel of clips on Instagram of the Inside Crew talking about the UNLV shooting and gun control, and basketball fans chimed in.

"You fix mental health you fix a lot of stuff related to this period," one person wrote. Another added, "Sad bc I had seen nothing on this anywhere." Another person also shared a similar statement saying, "The crazy thing is I have not seen one post on this shooting. We’ve already become numb to it."

Another follower jumped in to say, "This has been going on from the beginning of time nothing is changing it's very sad and heartbreaking."

A follower who resides in Canada chimed in to say, "Nothing but facts from Chuck. I’m in Canada and sure we are at from perfect as well but it is a lot harder to get a gun here, you need to take a safety course for a certain class of guns and another for a higher class like pistols. Also the higher class, you cannot just have it in your car or house normally either. You can bring it from home to the shooting range and that’s it and you also have to call and get approval to do this. Even stopping for gas is illegal and I am 100% for this. They need to make it this hard in the states as well. I am certain it has saved numerous people here."