Dallas Green on Tucson Shootings: "It Hurts Like Hell"

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 28, 2011 8:20PM

Former Cubs General Manager Dallas Green spoke with Tribune sports reporter Fred Mitchell about the recent shootings in Tucson, AZ that injured Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and left Green's 9-year-old granddaughter, Christina-Taylor, dead. Look past the lede framing his granddaughter's murder with a missed shot at winning a pennant and you'll see Mitchell weaves a poignant narrative about how every story related to the shootings takes on a personal tone for Green and his family.

"There has been story after story. Unfortunately, every time there's a story, it's about Christina as well. It hurts like hell," Green, his voice cracking, said during an exclusive interview with the Tribune. "But the outpouring of support we've had from the Phillies and from the Dodgers and really from everybody … the Cubs people, fans. … it has just been heartwarming for us as a family."

Later in the article, Green, a lifetime hunter, offers an opinion about access to guns that makes one take pause. "I don't see any reason why anybody would want to buy an AK-47 or a Glock with a magazine of 33 or 38 shots. I don't know what you do with that except kill people," Green told Mitchell. "I would propose that we think about something along the line of eliminating those kind of sales in the U.S. But it is going to be a very difficult thing to do."