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Giants' Gabe Kapler will 'not come out for Anthem' to protest gun violence after Uvalde shooting

'I don't plan on coming out for the anthem going forward until I feel better about the direction of our country,' Kapler said

Gabe Kapler, the manager of the San Francisco Giants, informed reporters prior to his team's game against the Cincinnati Reds on Friday, 27 May, that he plans to skip the pregame US national anthem in the future to protest continuing gun violence in the US.

Speaking in the dugout of the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Ohio, Kapler said, "I don't plan on coming out for the anthem going forward until I feel better about the direction of our country," Kapler stated in the dugout of the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Ohio. After 18-year-old shooter Salvador Ramos massacred 19 students and two adults at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, the National League Manager of the Year's remarks were followed by a written statement on his website explaining his views. Kapler asked if the country's leaders were devoted to serving the best interests of its people and whether the United States is actually "the land of the free and the home of the brave" in the blog post.

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Later, Kapler expressed his disappointment with "the lack of delivery of the promise of what our national anthem represents," as he put it.

"We weren't given bravery, and we aren't free. The police on the scene put a mother in handcuffs as she begged them to go in and save her children. They blocked parents trying to organize to charge in to stop the shooter, including a father who learned his daughter was murdered while he argued with the cops. We aren't free when politicians decide that the lobbyist and gun industries are more important than our children's freedom to go to school without needing bulletproof backpacks and active shooter drills," Kapler noted.

He continued, "I am not okay with the state of this country. I wish I hadn't let my discomfort compromise my integrity. I wish that I could have demonstrated what I learned from my dad, that when you're dissatisfied with your country, you let it be known through protest. The home of the brave should encourage this."

On the other hand, Steve Kerr, the head coach of the Golden State Warriors, too made an emotional call for the US to take tougher action against gun violence. Kerr declined to discuss basketball ahead of Game 4 against the Dallas Mavericks, instead using the platform to protest gun violence in the aftermath of Tuesday's massacre.

"In the last 10 days, we've had elderly Black people killed in a supermarket in Buffalo, we've had Asian churchgoers killed in Southern California, now we have children murdered at school," Kerr informed reporters at the beginning of the press conference. When are we going to do something? I'm tired. I'm so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to the devastated families that are out there ... I'm tired of the moments of silence. Enough," he concluded.

Gabe's actions elicited a wide range of reactions on the internet, with some applauding his decision and others clapping back at him.

"You go Gabe KAPLER!!!!" a user tweeted. "Thank you for your words. It’s been a heartbreaking week," another user praised him for wise words.

An angry user questioned, "It's not that confusing. Human beings need to stop using weapons against each other. Why you trying to attack instead of offering solutions? I'm not interested in that." "Instead of kneeling, why don’t you go be a police officer and help make a difference. Be apart of the solution and be brave," another user suggested.

This was the eighth mass shooting in the US this year, according to AFP, and it happened just ten days after another 18-year-old killed ten African Americans at a supermarket in New York. The shooting reignited debates over guns, public safety, and civil rights. Ramos grew up in Uvalde, a predominantly Latino town of 16,000 people, 75 miles (120 kilometers) from the Mexican border and 85 miles (135 kilometers) from San Antonio. Ramos was a high school dropout with no criminal record or mental disease background.