Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks have been holding “Get Real” meetings every Wednesday since he took over as head coach of the program. The goal of the meetings: to talk about things outside of football.

On Wednesday, Lanning and many members of the team tweeted a 32-second video that was born out of those meetings — a message about gun violence in America. The video, which chronicled the number of deaths due to gun violence in the last two years, opened with Lanning’s voice before transitioning to other members of the team. A large group of players at the end say, in unison, “We choose love and unity.”

The video ends with a simple call to action: “End gun violence. Choose love and unity.”

Lanning spoke to The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman about the message. He said his players wanted to share the message, regardless of what the response might be, and Lanning wanted them to know he would stand with them.

“I think it’s really convenient at times for coaches to not bring up tough subjects, but you look at the world over the last couple of months, last couple of weeks, and there’s people shot for knocking on the wrong door, pulling into the wrong driveway, mass shootings at different locations, it obviously was a topic that is important to our players,” Lanning told Feldman. “And, we feel like we have a voice to maybe do something about it.

“In no way shape or form was it to be political in any way but humane. We’re talking about lives. How can we get people to value life more? How can we get people to stop gun violence? That’s the thought, not a political stance in any way. That’s not our avenue, but we do feel like we have a voice that can be heard and used, and why would we not use our voice to help educate people.

“… As a coach, you have a job and an obligation to your players, to share a message that they feel strongly about. That is a part of my job and I share that sentiment with them. A lot of times it’s easier not to say anything, and that doesn’t mean that’s right.”