More N.F.L. Players Turn to Guns for a Sense of Security

NY Times ^ | December 26, 2003 | MIKE FREEMAN

[Pharmboy]

The last word in the article states the case on gun ownership for protection. That's an advance for the Times.

[Leisler]

"...I have never heard of a situation where a gun saved a player."

That is because the estimated 2 million instances in which a law abiding citizen, peacefully and without incident, in which they brandish their gun for their protection and safety of them and their family, against murders, thieves and crack addicts.......GOES UNREPORTED BY THE MEDIA!

[mhking]

"I believe legally owning a gun is the right thing to do. It offers me protection. I think one day it could save my life."

There are many in the League who have an honest and open respect for the Second Amendment.

There are others (as in any microcosm of society) who don't give to snits about the Second Amendment. [shrug]

Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[CPOSharky]

...illegal guns, purchased without a permit...

NYT reporter. Assumes that laws throughout the US are as unconstitutional as NY laws.

[uncbob]

The league also does not keep track of which players have permits to possess guns.

YOU DON'T NEED A PERMIT TO POSSESS A GUN

[Lazamataz]

"I think the vast majority of players in the N.F.L. have guns," said Brown, who retired at the end of last season. "Just about every guy I played with in the N.F.L. had a gun. Almost every player I knew had one. Guns are rampant in football. You have all these players packing guns wherever they go. It's a disaster waiting to happen."

Shut up, Brown.

It's a disaster waiting to be AVERTED.

Professional football players are the target of every two-bit do-nothing jerk who's got something to prove, as well as terrorists.

[Lazamataz]

In New York State, you need a permit to possess a handgun.

[Pharmboy]

Yep...an armed society is a polite society. Who knows? The wide distribution of firearms might have avoided some bad violence in the past several years.

[Khepera]

Boy NY sucks don't it? Why would anybody want to live there?

[Lazamataz]

Boy NY sucks don't it? Why would anybody want to live there?

Cute, spunky chicks and colorful falls.

[Salgak]

Alas, that's incorrect. In such liberal wonderlands as New York and the People's Republic of Taxachusetts, you need a permit for a gun. Heck, in Taxachusetts, you need a permit just to FIRE a gun, much less own one. . .

[muir_redwoods]

Highly paid, high profile people whose work serves to generate intense feelings from fans and opponent's fans seek to protect themselves as capably as possible and this is news?

The vast majority of NFL players own guns. The vast majority of thinking Americans own guns for the same reasons. The police are great. Their job is to investigate crime. Mine is to prevent me and mine from becoming it's victim.

[Pharmboy]

Ditto that...

[toomuchcoffee]

Dittos.

[Imal]

I guess this explains the thousands of locker room shootings over the years amid a rising tide of gun violence.

Won't somebody please think of the children?

[ironman]

"The N.F.L. became the first sports league to create a formal gun policy in 1996, in an attempt to curtail gun ownership by players. The policy also discourages keeping registered guns at home."

I can understand a league policy of telling the players no guns on team property, but to actually discourage players from keeping their homes protected???

[rabidralph]

I wonder why they didn't interview Ray Lewis? He would tell them that guns are for sissies. Real men use knives and let their friends do the dirty work.

[T-Bird45]

Thanks for posting this article and ditto to the posters above.

One paragraph caught my interest:

Of course, not all N.F.L. players own guns. Jets quarterback Vinny Testaverde, San Diego Chargers quarterback Doug Flutie and the suspended Tampa Bay wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson have all made the National Rifle Association's list of people in support of gun control.

I bet they support gun control about like Feinstein -- "no guns for the serfs but I need mine for protection from the likes of you serfs."

[Hat-Trick]

No one knows exactly how many of the N.F.L.'s nearly 1,700 players are armed. That is in part because some possess illegal guns, purchased without a permit on the black market.

somebody has an A G E N D A.

[Damagro]

Meanwhile, the only player that comes to mind as having been accused of murder was Ray Lewis. That was a stabbing