In the wake of another mass shooting, LA Galaxy veteran Sasha Kelgestan has joined the growing chorus of US-based soccer players calling for gun control legislation.
Kljestan spoke after the Galaxy’s 4-0 win over CF Montreal on Monday, a match in which he made his debut in nearly seven weeks. Despite these pluses, Kljestan could not remember what he had in mind.
“I’m going to make this really brief and not answer any questions about the match,” Klestan told reporters after the match. “I’m sick of what happened in Illinois today,” he said, referring to the July 4 mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, which has so far left seven dead.
“I think we need to talk about gun control,” Kelgeistan said. “You guys can write about the game if you want, but I don’t really give a (expletive) word.”
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Kelistan has appealed to Congress to pass gun control legislation, saying the recurring pattern of mass shootings in the US is a “sick vicious cycle” of violence followed by social media posts and inaction. “We don’t do anything about it, and it makes me sick.”
“I can’t even think of anything else,” Klestan added. “I am not a politician, but a human being, and I fear for my children when they go to school.”
Klistan is not alone in the world of American football calling for change. In the wake of the horrific shooting at an elementary school in Ovaldi, Texas last month, the US men’s national team wrote an open letter last month calling on Congress to pass all gun control legislation currently under consideration, while the Washington Spirit team took the field. In T-shirts she supports Brady United, a non-profit organization against gun violence.
Philadelphia Union midfielder Alejandro Bedoya made national headlines in 2019, dropping a goal celebration in favor of going to a field microphone used for broadcasts to demand action from Congress to stem the tide of gun violence in the country.
