Listen to Sean Payton. Carefully. He’s mad. Sad. Frustrated. Passionate.
“If this opinion in Louisiana is super unpopular,” Payton told USA TODAY Sports in a 33-minute phone conversation on Monday, his first interview since Will Smith’s death, “so be it.”
In the aftermath of the senseless shooting on Saturday night that left former defensive end Smith dead – and Smith’s wife Racquel wounded -- amid a beef linked to a traffic accident, the New Orleans Saints coach is pleading for more gun control.
He isn’t merely talking about tighter laws. If Payton had his druthers we’d live in a country without guns.
“Two hundred years from now, they’re going to look back and say, ‘What was that madness about?’ “ Payton said. “The idea that we need them to fend off intruders … people are more apt to draw them (in other situations). That’s some silly stuff we’re hanging onto.”
Payton is still processing the death of a former team captain -- who was weeks away from joining the Saints coach staff as an intern -- and no one in their right mind can blame him for expressing his raw, human emotion. He wants to get this off his chest, and it hardly matters if Payton is bucking conventional NFL coach speak by coming out strong on a hot-button political issue.
“I’m not an extreme liberal,” Payton said. “I find myself leaning to the right on some issues. But on this issue, I can’t wrap my brain around it.”
Payton, who grew up in suburban Chicago, said that his philosophy was influenced by his father, an insurance claims adjuster whose line of work was filled with tragedies. He also spent six months playing in a British football league during the late 1980s, before launching his coaching career.
“I hate guns,” he said.
Payton said he is trying to remove his anti-gun bias in considering the matter, but even with that he reaches the same conclusion.
“I’ve heard people argue that everybody needs a gun,” he said. “That’s madness. I know there are many kids who grow up in a hunting environment. I get that. But there are places, like England, where even the cops don’t have guns.”
Payton spent part of Saturday night participating in an auction for a charity event at the House of Blues, which was a hub of activity during the annual French Quarter Fest. Soon after he returned home, shortly after midnight, he learned of Smith’s death – which occurred about eight blocks from Payton’s home in the Garden District.
Unable to sleep, Payton drove to the scene around 5:45 Sunday morning.
“I wanted to see it,” he said.
After spending several hours at the hospital where Racquel underwent surgery, commiserating with some of Smith’s relatives, Payton hopped on the Internet on Sunday night to try to find out whatever he could about the weapon that was used. He described what he discovered in gruesome detail.
“It was a large caliber gun. A .45,” Payton said. “It was designed back during World War I. And this thing just stops people. It will kill someone within four or five seconds after they are struck. You bleed out. After the first shot (that struck Smith’s torso), he took three more in his back.”
Payton paused, then continued with his theme.
“We could go online and get 10 of them, and have them shipped to our house tomorrow,” he said. “I don’t believe that was the intention when they allowed for the right for citizens to bear arms.”
The tragedy that cost Smith his life undoubtedly fuels attention because of his high profile. But Payton, who said he was “still numb” on Monday, has a larger perspective, too.
“We don’t hear this noise when something happens in New Orleans East, or in the Lower 9,” Payton said, alluding to predominantly African-American communities. “Now you creep into the Garden District…
“I just know this: Our city is broken.”
Payton is probably more qualified than pretty much any coach in the NFL when it comes to feeling the pulse of the city where his team resides. He landed the Saints job in 2006, when the football team was hitched hand-in-hand with a community needing to rebuild from the devastation of Katrina.
In his 10 years, he’s lived on the North Shore, the South Shore and the Warehouse District in addition to his current Uptown location. He says the violence in the city – with most of the victims being people you’ve never heard of – is as bad as it has been in his time as a resident.
“It’s like our big little secret,” Payton said. “They don’t want to kill tourism. But right now, it’s like the Wild, Wild West here.”
Beyond the weapons, Payton believes the issues are exacerbated because of an overhauled New Orleans Police Department that has been weakened significantly by reductions in staff and funding.
He laments the possibility of getting into a traffic accident in New Orleans, where he contends police might not respond due to manpower shortages that leave fender-benders as a low priority.
The bigger fear, though, is to encounter another driver willing to settle a dispute by taking the law into their own hands. While the investigation and legal proceedings in Smith’s case are ongoing, initial reports contend that the incident was a worst-case scenario of road rage.
“I think I’m a good driver,” Payton said. “But God forbid if I make a mistake and cut someone off.”
Smith, who played his final season in 2013, was often at the center of lively debates Payton would come across while strolling through the locker room. In addition to being a leader who was eager to address team issues that concerned the coach, Payton remembers Smith as being very opinionated – yet at the same time a good listener.
“I don’t know how he felt about guns,” Payton said. “I know he loved this city. And I know he was going to be a heck of a coach. He had such a presence about him. Not only would he have made the transition to be a great defensive line coach, he had all the tools to become a head coach.
“We just don’t get to see those chapters. All the chapters before now were great. But it’s sad that we won’t see the next chapters.”
