Bob Costas: 'Any sane person' would support gun control measures

Bob Costas: ‘Any sane person’ would support gun control measures

By Meredith Blake

Jan. 29, 2013 12 AM PT

Bob Costas found himself at the center of controversy in December after expounding about guns during halftime on “Sunday Night Football.” He quickly became the enemy of 2^nd Amendment purists across the country, and has since made pains to qualify his brief remarks regarding the murder-suicide of NFL player Jovan Belcher and girlfriend Kasandra Perkins.

But, as Costas made clear Monday on “The Daily Show,” he’s not about to keep quiet about guns, especially in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre. “Obviously any sane person believes that we ought not to have high-capacity magazines and assault rifles and that there ought to be background checks,” he began, clearly not backing down from a fight. (By his estimation, then, there are dozens if not hundreds of insane lawmakers in Congress.)

Host Jon Stewart, who otherwise didn’t get much of a chance to speak during the interview, pounced on the statement: “How do you define sane, just very quickly?”

“I’m not exactly sure what’s sane, but I know a lot of what I heard in the aftermath is insane,” Costas replied. From there, he elaborated that even if “every bit of commonsense legislation were passed,” the country would still have to address the more nebulous problem of its “gun culture.”

He pointed to numerous factors that create an attitude in which young athletes feel the need to own multiple guns – movies, hip-hop music, possibly even football itself. Given the “brutal, belligerent and violent” nature of the sport, Costas argued that it’s “reasonable to suspect that [football players] aren’t going to be able to contain that to the field.”

Costas also clarified that while he doesn’t object to keeping a handgun in the home for self-defense purposes, he is troubled by the pervasiveness of firearms.

“You’ve got a lot of people in this country, and some of them are professional athletes, whose idea is as they leave the house is ‘Got my wallet, got my watch, got my Glock.’ ”

In case you’re wondering, Costas – rarely a man of few words -- also talked about actual sports during his “Daily Show” appearance, but for that you’ll have to watch the extended interview.

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