PHILADELPHIA — A day after Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher killed his girlfriend, Kassandrea Perking, and then himself, NBC broadcaster Bob Costas created a new controversy after he spoke out in favor of gun control during the halftime segment of the Dallas Cowboys – Philadelphia Eagles game on Sunday night.
Costas, talking in agreement with a column from former Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock, said that if Jovan Belcher didn’t own a gun then both he and Perkins would still be alive.
“Handguns do not enhance our safety. They exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments, and bait us into embracing confrontation rather than avoiding it,” said Costas, quoting from Whitlock’s column for FOX Sports.
On Saturday, police say that Belcher, 25, shot the 22-year-old Perkins, with whom he has an infant girl born just last September, multiple times in the couple’s Kansas City home, killing her. He then drove to the Kansas City Chiefs practice facility at the Truman Sports Complex, where he talked with Chiefs head coach Romeo Crennel, general manager Scott Pioli and linebackers coach Gary Gibbs – reportedly thanking them for giving him a shot at the NFL – before turning the gun on himself.