Sports Leagues Unite To Demand New Gun Control Legislation
From kneeling during the national anthem to demanding that biological males be allowed to compete against girls and women, athletes from a range of sports have faced backlash in recent years for injecting their own personal political ideologies into sports.
Most of the leagues in which these college and professional athletes play have also drifted away from solely focusing on sports, as evidenced by a letter to Congress signed by executives from the NFL, MLB, NBA, Major League Soccer, NCAA, and even NASCAR.
It is worth noting that the generally apolitical Ultimate Fighting Championship is the only major sports league not represented in the missive.
The letter, addressed to the Republican and Democratic leaders of both the House of Representatives and Senate, consists of demands for a host of new federal legislation restricting the Second Amendment rights of Americans, ostensibly in hopes of reducing gun violence.
Specifically, the signers called for the reauthorization of a 1988 law banning the possession, except in specific circumstances, of firearms that cannot be identified by metal detectors or X-ray machines.
Guns that fail to “generate an image that accurately depicts the shape of the component” were similarly outlawed under the Undetectable Firearms Act.
According to the sports league executives, the law, which was slated to expire earlier this month, “has helped keep Americans safe in public spaces that utilize metal detection to prevent the admittance of firearms, including at the thousands of events that our organizations host each year.”
They went on to claim that allowing the law to expire “would hinder our ability to prevent firearms from entering stadiums and arenas and reduce the fan safety measures in place at our events.”
Dozens of House Republicans responded to the letter with their own plea to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to reject calls for the continuation of the act’s restrictions.
“As we head into the 2024 election year, the Republican conference will have numerous opportunities to prove to the American people why our party should be entrusted with continued control of the House of Representatives,” they wrote. “One of our first opportunities to demonstrate a Republican Commitment to America will be to emphatically reject any permanent reauthorization or expansion of the Undetectable Firearms Act.”
