NBC sportscaster Bob Costas stirred up some controversy when he used the Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher murder-suicide as a basis to advocate gun control during a sports broadcast. Since then, Bill O’Reilly invited Costas to “The O’Reilly Factor” on Wednesday night to debate the issue and to expand on his views.
O’Reilly said on a recent broadcast that he does not feel that stronger gun control laws will fix the problem of gun violence.
“There will always be people who lose control and you cannot disarm the American people to combat madness,” he said.
But Costas feels otherwise. He appeared on “The O’Reilly Factor” and backed up his case by saying that more bad outcomes occur from guns, rather than good.
“Why do they have the guns?” O’Reilly asks Costas about football players who own guns.
“They may feel they need it for protection. They may feel that it’s a part of a romanticized culture. There’s an aspect of this, a kind of wild west, Dirty Harry aspect,” Costas responded.
Costas brought up the issue of gun control in response to Jovan Belcher, a Kansas City Chiefs linebacker who fatally shot his girlfriend on Saturday and then committed suicide. He will also address gun control on his own show, “Costas Tonight” on the NBC Sports Network with guests Charles Barkley and John McEnroe.