Is it useful?' NBA coach questions Second Amendment, calling gun control laws a 'Band-Aid

Gregg Popovich, head coach of the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs, questioned the usefulness of the Second Amendment in light of a former Supreme Court justice’s call to repeal the constitutional right to bear arms, USA Today reports.

What did he say?

“Even if they changed the age limit, it’s all a Band-Aid,” Popovich said. “The obvious elephant in the room is the guns, weapons of war, the magazines. The real discussion should be about the Second Amendment. Is it useful? Does it serve its purpose the way it was supposed to do in the beginning? That discussion should be had.

“Is one life more important than some congressman keeping his position because he’s afraid he won’t get funds from the NRA? It’s a dereliction of duty on the part of everybody around [President Donald] Trump.”

Why is he talking about this?

Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens called for a repeal of the Second Amendment, marking a notable escalation in the debate about gun control versus gun rights.

“Concern that a national standing army might pose a threat to the security of the separate states led to the adoption of [the Second Amendment], which provides that ‘a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.’ Today that concern is a relic of the 18th century,” Stevens wrote in a New York Times op-ed.

“That simple but dramatic action (repealing the Second Amendment) would move Saturday’s marchers closer to their objective than any other possible reform,” Stevens wrote.

Popovich and his team visited the Supreme Court on Monday while they were in Washington, D.C., for a game. They met with Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Chief Justice John Roberts.

“We try to do things outside of basketball and just expose players to real life because this is just entertainment,” Popovich said.