4:39PM EST December 5. 2012 - NBC's Bob Costas will be back on TV talking about gun violence.
In an already-taped episode of Costas Tonight, airing on the NBC Sports Network cable channel Thursday (9 p.m. ET), Costas will be joined by Charles Barkley and John McEnroe.
On the show, Barkley says he's "carried a gun in my car, every day of my life -- never had to use it."
Costas has already drawn attention for suggesting, during NBC's Sunday night NFL coverage, that Kansas City Chief Jovan Belcher and his girlfriend Kasandra Perkins would be alive if Belcher didn't have a gun. Costas, Tuesday on The Dan Patrick Show, explained he had made a "mistake" in addressing the topic in the 90-second NBC segment because he didn't "have enough time" to raise related issues.
On Costas Tonight, Barkley addresses broader issues. He says, "Especially in the black culture, it's a crime culture. We, as black people, and I always say 'we', we won't have respect, we don't have respect for each other. We have more black men in prison than we do in college, and crime in our neighborhoods is running rampant. I know everybody reacts when something like the Belcher thing happens. But being black, this is something you deal with all the time, and it's just sad. I'm a guy and I carry a gun."
Would he use it? Says Barkley: "I feel a sense of peace when I have it with me, but it would take extreme circumstances for me to even touch it."
McEnroe says he feels "safer" by not carrying a gun.
And while Costas in Thursday's show says he "didn't say anything specifically about gun control legislation or the second amendment" in his Sunday segment, McEnroe talks about his support for some sort of gun control: "That's why someone like Mayor Bloomberg, in New York City, where I live, has advocated, I think rightly, that we get as many guns off the street."
Source : http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/2012/12/05/bob-costas-javon-belcher-nbc-charles-barkley-john-mcenroe-nbc-nfl/1749025/