More often than not, when Chris “Mad Dog” Russo goes on a rant on ESPN’s First Take it will make you roll your eyes and want to change the channel. But today was very different, and Russo’s rant has gone viral for it.
During Wednesday’s edition of First Take, Russo spoke out about the most recent school shooting at Uvalde, Texas that saw 19 children and two teachers killed. Russo admonished the politicians who blamed “mental health” issues on the shooter while refusing to pass gun control legislation.
“They voted no on [legislation], and then (Texas governor) Abbott gives this speech about how they’re heartbroken,” Russo said. “Well you had a chance to do something about it! You did nothing. And where are they going on Friday, half of them? To an [NRA] convention in Houston, Texas for crying out loud.”
As with many Russo rants, there were some factual errors in the content. But he made it clear that the school shooting issue is an America-only issue and that gun control is a strong step that can be taken to curtail it.
“But I can’t look at every computer! I can’t look at every social media post. I can’t look at every Instagram thing to see what these kids are thinking about. But what I can do, I can limit their ability to obtain weapons! That I can do!” Russo said.
“This does not happen in Europe, Japan, China, Israel — name the country,” Russo said. “It happens here. The United States of America. Because you politicians, in this case most of them Republicans, and the president, go out and do something!”
The video has over 450,000 views while Jimmy Traina’s reposting of the video has 15,000 likes and several thousand retweets.
Chris Russo wasn’t the first sports personality to speak out on the issue. He won’t be the last either.
We can only hope that something can be done to curtail this violence.