Editor’s Note: This insightful report was inspired by the brave journalism of the New York Daily News‘ Gersh Kuntzman, who bruised his shoulder and developed a “temporary form of PTSD” after firing a semi-automatic rifle in an effort to shed valuable light on the gun debate in America.
It felt to me like a boomerang—and sounded like a ninja star.
One day after a public assault by a lone, long-range shooter that left one person bewildered, and an entire nation shocked and appalled at what appears to have been another preventable attack, I wanted to see what it was like to actually throw a mouthguard at someone.
I’m not an athlete. I don’t “do” sports. But I wanted to better understand what could motivate someone like Stephen Curry, someone clearly mentally ill, to fire a mouthguard at unsuspecting victims at close range. I wanted to understand this strange obsession that basketball nuts everywhere have with such a weapon that they say is meant only for protection but can become a lethal projectile in the blink of an eye.
First, let me just state how easy it was to actually purchase a mouth guard. I was able to obtain one over the counter at a Dick’s Sporting Goods with absolutely no background check for a mere $14.99. Walmart sells even cheaper models over the counter as well. When the sales associate checked me out and I held it in my hands for the first time, a feeling of absolute dread came over me. I was shaking.
The mouthguard does come with a safety strap but any guy who had shop in high school can remove the strap in about 54 minutes.
I stood there with the mouthguard in my hand and tried as best I could to aim. I closed my eyes and squeezed the chewy rubber in my hand. I felt almost instantly sick. The recoil from the throw left my elbow bruised, which apparently is normal if you don’t know how to throw it correctly. Spittle disoriented me as it flew out of my mouth and past my face. The sound of it hitting the wall was like a loud squishy bomb. The entire incident left me anxious and with some form of brief PTSD. I’ll never get it out of my head for as long as I live.
Throwing the mouthguard was nothing like I thought it would be. As I reflect on both my own personal experience, and that of what the entire country witnessed Thursday night in Cleveland, I for the life of me cannot understand how we as a people, and our leaders can stand idly by and tolerate this kind of viciousness. I re-watch Vines and GIFs of that moment on social media and chills race down my spine. Why? I keep asking myself. Why?
Our thoughts and prayers are no longer enough. Thoughts and prayers did not stop that mouthguard from hitting that fan. There are real common sense measures we can take right now by controlling who gets their hands on such a weapon.
We all have some soul searching to do over this. We have to decide what kind of people we want to be. It apparently seems to be a lone-wolf mouthguard attack by a very confused individual. Anyone out to blame an entire team over Steph Curry’s mouthguard attack would do themselves well to remember The Crusades. We must not succumb to Curryphobia, which would be antithetical to our values as a nation that embraces all sports—even soccer.
We as a society have to stand up to such acts of hate and make it known that hatred will never win. And as for the National Basketball Association? The NBA is a gutless organization, with a powerful lobbying army in our nation’s capital, which not only allows such attacks to happen, but actively works to enable future attacks. As far as I’m concerned, they have spit on their hands.
Stephen Miller is a digital media designer and contributor. He also publishes and produces The Wilderness, which focuses on viral politics and culture media .