Like many other sports media figures, First Things First host Nick Wright is pleading for stricter gun control measures following the mass shooting Wednesday at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade.
Unlike those other personalities, however, Wright was there at the scene when it happened. So was his family. It all hit too close to home.
One woman was killed in the shooting and 22 people were injured, many of them children. Police took two unidentified juveniles into custody in connection with the shooting, which officials believe may have started with a dispute.
Wright, a KC native and huge Chiefs fan, was at the event doing a live FTF broadcast. On Thursday’s show, the Fox Sports 1 host spent seven minutes recalling the terrible aftermath of the incident, and then issuing an emotional plea for more gun control.
After the shots rang out, Wright said he spent the “worst 10 seconds of his life” trying to find the gunfire’s source and then find his family members.
“Once we had gotten to the safety of our [hotel], we were at the elevator, there was a little old lady on the phone fighting back tears, wearing a Chiefs shirt,” Wright said. “She saw me, and knew us, knew the show, and came over and gave me a hug and started crying.
“I still didn’t cry yet, and then we talked … and she said she was there with her kids and grandkids, and her 14-year-old granddaughter had to take the lead because she’s been trained for this and the adults hadn’t. And I cried … and I cried because it’s so god-dog cruel what we’ve taken from this generation of kids.”
Nick Wright discusses the mass shooting in his hometown of Kansas City yesterday at the Super Bowl parade, where 'First Things First' was broadcasting live pic.twitter.com/0k4vgRJN1z
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 15, 2024
Wright then railed about the pushback against stricter gun control measures, noting that Missouri has been fighting in court to prevent officers from having to enforce certain federal gun standards in the state.
“When it comes to this particular topic, we turn ourselves into morons. We trick ourselves into ‘good guy with a gun.’ There were 800 good guys there, you couldn’t have had more good guys there, prepared, ready … but there’s nothing they could do,” Wright said.
“And we’ll just keep going, with active shooter drills, and a generation of kids who had this part of their lives stolen from them. And we’ll throw our hands up and say, ‘what can we do?’ when we all know the answer. I am heartbroken. I love Kansas City so much, and those kids were so happy, and those people were so happy, and some kids themselves with easy access to rifles and other guns, did that.”
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.