An angered Michael Malone asks when government will step in to stop mass shootings

MILWAUKEE — A day after a former student opened fire at a Florida high school, killing 17 and injuring at least 14 more, Nuggets coach Michael Malone asked how a teenager can get possession of a semi-automatic weapon like the one he used to carry out the deadliest school shooting in the U.S. in five years.

Malone, who has two daughters in grade school and whose wife was a school teacher, spoke following shootaround in Milwaukee.

“It’s a lot of emotions that go into it. The first one is sadness. Seventeen people murdered in another mass shooting at a school. My wife was a school teacher. I have a fifth grader and a seventh grader, and you think about that first and you’re sad for all of those affected down in Florida,” Malone said. “And then that emotion turns to anger and frustration because it keeps happening, it keeps happening. What are we doing to prevent that? What are we doing to stop it? Thabo Sefolosha, who grew up in Switzerland, he said something today, which was really interesting. His country where he grew up, there’s no gun violence and the fact that there appears to be a troubled (19-year-old) kid who was expelled from school is able to legally go out and buy a (semi) automatic weapon is absurd.”

“I understand this country was founded on certain rights and the right to bear arms but assault rifles? How many times are we going to see the same story and nothing changes? So it is frustrating because we’ve seen the same tragic story time and time again and you feel awful for the families affected, and obviously you hope that at some point, our government will step in and do something to no longer allow these purchases of (semi) automatic weapons, these murder machines that these people are using. It’s a mix of emotions for all of us. Yes, we have a game to play and we get caught up in our own daily lives. When you take a step back and see what’s going on in our world and in our country, it brings things into perspective.”