PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning has never been one to shy away from speaking about national topics, and didn’t steer clear from speaking about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Saturday’s postgame conference.

On Saturday after the Ducks beat Northwestern, Lanning spoke at length on gun violence in the wake of the killing of Kirk, who was shot and killed on Wednesday while speaking at the University of Utah in Orem. A 22-year-old man has been charged in connection with Kirk’s shooting after a manhunt.

“The US could learn a lot from our locker room. I think the people in this world could learn a lot from our locker room. You walk in that locker room, you’ve got guys of different races, guys of different backgrounds, different religions, and you’ve got a team that loves each other,” Lanning said. “Like, tons of differences, tons of differences — where they come from, what they deal with, and ultimately you have a team that loves each other. And I think we’re missing some of that in our country.”

Lanning went on to mention how Kirk was an Oregon Ducks fan, and how his heart hurts for Kirk’s widow and his children, adding, “that sort of evil should never exist in our country, and that’s what it is: evil.

“I remember having to sit down with my kids and explain what happened. They were talking about people talking about it at school and it’s just sad,” he continued, adding. “But it’s just as sad, you know, everyday it seems like we deal with some sort of violence that’s going on in our country, whether it’s school kids in Colorado or kids in Minnesota in churches. I mean, life matters, you know, and I think we’ve lost sight of that.”

Lanning went on to call for common sense in the debate about solutions to gun violence, but added, “the reality is, is there is just not a lot of common sense on both sides.”

“Like common sense says ‘oh it’s mental health,’ right? Common sense is ‘oh it’s guns.’ You know what? It’s both. Like, let’s have some common sense. Our kids should be the most protected thing in the world, right? They should have armed guards at every school, ’cause there’s sick people, there’s sick people in this world, right? and on top of that, sick people need help. It should be really hard for a sick person to have a gun. It should be really hard, right? And if people can’t see that from both sides, how disappointing [sic] is that?”

Lanning continued to speak about how the Oregon Ducks football team has come together and found common ground.

“We need to look at sports, because what our football team has is that it has people on both sides of the fence. Right, and there’s fans that love our team that have a lot of different opinions and the truth is, there’s a lot of things that Charlie said that I did not agree with at all. There’s a lot things that he said that I did agree with,” he said. “But what’s disappointing is that I can respect those differences and somebody else couldn’t.”

A transcript of Lanning’s comments on Saturday is below:

The US could learn a lot from our locker room. I think the people in this world could learn a lot from our locker room. You walk in that locker room, you’ve got guys of different races, guys of different backgrounds, different religions, and you’ve got a team that loves each other,” Lanning said. “Like, tons of differences, tons of differences — where they come from, what they deal with, and ultimately you have a team that loves each other. And I think we’re missing some of that in our country.

You know you talk about how Charlie Kirk was an Oregon fan, right? I didn’t know that. I hurt for his wife Erika and their kids, like that sort of evil should never exist in our country, and that’s what it is, evil . Like, I remember having to explain that to my family. I remember having to sit down with my kids and explain what happened. They were talking about people talking about it at school and it’s just sad, right?

But it’s just as sad, you know, everyday it seems like we deal with some sort of violence that’s going on in our country, whether it’s school kids in Colorado or kids in Minnesota in churches. I mean, life matters, you know, and I think we’ve lost sight of that, you know, but I wish the world could learn a little bit of something from our locker room, ’cause we’ve got a bunch of people with differences and what you’ve got in there is a bunch of people who love there. And there is some people who would be disappointed in how much I said about this, right? There will be some people who I didn’t say enough. Right? And I really don’t care.

Right, what I do care about is that if you disagree with me, if you hate me, if you don’t like me, just know this: I love you. I absolutely love you, right? And life matters. And that’s no way that Charlie should have experienced that, his family should have experienced that, there’s no way that that evil should exist in this world and we have to continue to identify it and point it out and make sure that it’s absolute evil, that there’s no reason in the world that our kids .. that we should be worried about sending our kids to school. It’s our most valuable commodity in the world, they should be protected. And the reality is, is there is just not a lot of common sense on both sides.

Like common sense says ‘oh it’s mental health,’ right? Common sense is, ‘oh it’s guns.’ You know what? It’s both. Like, let’s have some common sense. Our kids should be the most protected thing in the world, right? They should have armed guards at every school, ’cause there’s sick people, there’s sick people in this world, right? And on top of that, sick people need help. It should be really hard for a sick person to have a gun. It should be really hard, right? And if people can’t see that from both sides, how disappointing [sic] is that?

But I just know that you see moments like that that exist right now in our country, and I just think about my kids. And I hope… I remember I saw that video, and it’s disgusting, and I just go like ‘man, I hope my kids don’t see that video.’ Like how much does that suck? I hope Charlie’s kids never see that video. Like, disgusting, right?

We glorify it, we praise it, you know people are internet warriors and those are sick people, and at some point, we need to look at sports, because what our football team has is that it has people on both sides of the fence. Right, and there’s fans that love our team that have a lot of different opinions and the truth is, there’s a lot of things that Charlie said that I did not agree with at all. There’s a lot things that he said that I did agree with.

But what’s disappointing is that I can respect those differences and somebody else couldn’t. And they thought that they deserved to be God in that moment and they didn’t, right? And nobody should have to experience that, so, I’ve got a lot of disappointment.

We had… at bible study with the team, we talked about it with our team and I think our team feels the same way, regardless of views, I don’t think they ever feel that anybody deserves to experience what some people in our country are experiencing right now and it’s super disappointing.

The Oregon Ducks face Oregon State on Saturday, Sept. 20 at Autzen in Eugene.