Associated Press
After his October arrest, T. J. Slaughter,
right, then a Jaguars linebacker, had
to surrender his handgun. He left jail
with his agent, Michael Huyghue.
Posted on 12/26/2003 5:17:06 AM PST by Pharmboy
Toward the end of his 19 years in the National Football League, offensive tackle Lomas Brown noticed something that startled even a hardened veteran. It seemed as if almost every player he knew in the N.F.L. owned a gun. Brown said he saw guns everywhere. On team flights. In locker rooms. In players' cars. In training camp dormitory rooms.
Associated Press
After his October arrest, T. J. Slaughter,
right, then a Jaguars linebacker, had
to surrender his handgun. He left jail
with his agent, Michael Huyghue.
"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."
Many people in the N.F.L. share Brown's view, according to interviews with more than 25 players, owners, team executives and agents in recent weeks. Weapons, including military-style assault rifles, can be found in players' homes and cars, and even sometimes in their lockers, the players, executives and owners said.
Barton Silverman/The New York Times
Team buses did not pass through Giants Stadium security checks before Saturday's Patriots-Jets game.
But at a time when possessing guns has become increasingly common, many players said, they are not searched rigorously when entering stadiums and practice complexes.
Barton Silverman/The New York Times
Fans, meanwhile, were searched.
Professional football, like other sports, has significantly increased security at stadiums since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. Fans are screened for weapons as they enter the gates, with security personnel routinely patting them down and checking their belongings. League officials declined to discuss how many guns or other weapons have been confiscated during these searches.
Many players said, however, that they are seldom searched on the day of games, although their bags and cars were screened carefully in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11.
Nor are the players monitored as they come and go during the week, making it relatively simple for players to leave guns in cars parked outside stadiums or to bring them into locker rooms, a number of players said.
A league spokesman, Greg Aiello, maintained that players' bags are searched on game day. The N.F.L. has a broad policy that firmly discourages gun ownership and prohibits players from bringing guns to team facilities. League officials say they think the policy has been successful.
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. The league also does not keep track of which players have permits to possess guns. Many players and others in the N.F.L. said they believe more players are armed than ever before, with their rough estimates running from perhaps half of the league's players to as many as 90 percent.
"The culture has definitely changed," Giants defensive end Michael Strahan, an 11-year veteran, said. "It's probably true that more players own guns now than when I first came into the league. That's because it doesn't feel safe being an athlete in public anymore.
"I am much more worried about aggressive people than I have ever been. Because of our salaries and the exposure we receive, fans feel like they have a right to physically challenge you."
Athletes Feel Threatened
The primary reason for the rise in gun ownership, many people said, is an increased concern among players that they are targets for everyone from aggressive fans to criminals and even terrorists.
"What you're really worried about is some guy having a gun, he confronts you, and you have nothing," linebacker T. J. Slaughter said.
Slaughter was released by the Jacksonville Jaguars in late October after he was accused of pointing a gun at two men on a highway. Slaughter, who said he had a permit for his gun, denied having pointed it at the men; he believed they had threatened him.
Possessing a gun has also become a macho emblem, a status symbol among athletic, affluent young men, said Michael Huyghue, a former Jaguars general manager who is now an agent representing dozens of N.F.L. players. For players, Huyghue said, owning guns "is as basic to them as owning jewelry or fast cars."
"They have almost become tools of their trade," he said. "And every profession has something that the people in it identify with, just like the lawyer that must have his $600 briefcase or $1,000 cuff links. But the difference is the briefcase or cuff links won't kill you, and I have never heard of a situation where a gun saved a player."
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.
And many football players who said they own guns insisted they do so responsibly and legally.
Pro football is not the only sport in which guns have become a concern. Greg Anthony, a former guard in the National Basketball Association who is now an analyst on ESPN, said he carried registered guns during the early part of his career, as did some teammates. Anthony said perhaps 1 in 25 N.B.A. players had guns during the early 1990's; he also said that by the time he retired last season, the number had tripled.
"Right or wrong, it's just the reality," Anthony said. "More athletes are worried about their safety. More and more people approach you, and you just never know what somebody is capable of doing. Players want that extra sense of security in this environment. They see carrying as a deterrent."
Anthony said he had often taken a revolver secretly into the locker room when he played for the Knicks. "No one ever saw it, and I didn't know anyone even knew about it," he said.
No independent researcher has studied how widespread gun use is among athletes, said Stephen Teret, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, who founded the Bloomberg School of Public Health's department of gun policy and research.
When told that N.F.L. players had said that many of their peers owned guns, Teret said it would not be surprising. Gun ownership is primarily a male phenomenon, he said, and professional football is composed of men. There is at least one gun in about 40 percent of American households, Teret said.
Among the potential dangers of having guns stored in lockers or in cars parked next to a stadium or practice field, several players said, is that some athletes have volatile tempers and a disagreement on the field could turn into a gun incident.
"I understand wanting a gun to protect your home and family," Lomas Brown said. "But having one in other situations is extremely dangerous. Athletes are very emotional, and just like everyone else, sometimes our emotions get the best of us, and they are difficult to control. If you throw a gun into that mix, and then maybe alcohol, well, that's not good."
During the mid-1990's, a heated argument between Giants players that started in a meeting room ended with one player threatening to get a gun from his car to shoot his teammate, Strahan said. Other players prevented him from going to his car, Strahan said.
A few seasons later, a reporter and a Giants player were discussing just how prevalent guns were in locker rooms. The reporter said he was skeptical that many players carried guns, but the player insisted that he was wrong. As proof, he showed the reporter his own gun, kept in a small duffel bag in his locker.
There have been a number of off-field incidents recently involving pro football players and guns. Larry Johnson, a rookie running back with the Kansas City Chiefs, was arrested Dec. 5 and charged with felony aggravated assault and misdemeanor battery after a former girlfriend accused him of slapping her and threatening her with a gun during an argument. He denied the accusation.
Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair was accused of driving while intoxicated and illegal possession of a handgun last May. McNair had a gun permit, but in Tennessee it is against the law for an intoxicated person to have a loaded weapon. Police say they found a loaded .40-caliber gun and extra ammunition in McNair's car when he was arrested.
Carolina Panthers wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad, Cleveland Browns defensive tackle Gerard Warren and former San Diego Chargers wide receiver Jeff Graham were among other N.F.L. players who had been arrested on weapons charges over the last two years. Muhammad, for example, was accused of carrying two concealed weapons in his car. Dallas Cowboys defensive linemen Leonardo Carson was accused of threatening an automobile mechanic with a gun.
Fred Lane, then a running back with Carolina, was arrested in February 2000 after the police found a rifle in the trunk of his car. Five months later, Lane was shot to death in his Charlotte, N.C., home. His wife, Deidra, pleaded guilty in August to having shot Lane with his 12-gauge shotgun; she was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Barely a month after Sept. 11, safety Damien Robinson, then with the Jets, was arrested before a game at Giants Stadium after security officials found a .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle in the trunk of his car along with 200 rounds of ammunition.
When he played with the Cardinals from 1996 to 1998, Brown said, several teammates were caught by team officials bringing weapons onto team property. The players were simply told not to do it again, he said.
Before Sept. 11, players usually boarded charter flights without passing through any security check. That changed after Sept. 11, Brown said. Now, players go through the same screening procedures as passengers on commercial airliners.
League Policy Not Deterrent
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.
But the policy has done little to deter gun possession, a number of players said. Some players think teammates may be turning to illegal weapons because there may be less chance that the N.F.L. will learn that they have bought a gun.
"I think that's true, and it's stupid," Strahan, who declined to say whether he owns a firearm, said. "If you're going to own a gun, do it right. What if that gun you buy illegally was used in a murder?"
More players appear to be arming themselves to hunt game, many players and league officials said, but the main reason pro athletes think they need guns is the concern that their wealth and celebrity make them targets.
"People don't realize how many aggressive fans there are," Huyghue, the player agent, said. "There are a lot of people out there who want to make a name for themselves by taking on a football player. In my opinion, those types of confrontations have increased in number and intensity."
Will Allen, a Giants cornerback, was returning home two years ago when three armed men assaulted him, doused him with gasoline and threatened to set him afire if he did not hand over his jewelry, which was worth more than $100,000, according to the police. He did.
Slaughter, the former Jacksonville linebacker, said his belief that he needs a gun for protection was reinforced in November 2001, when Danny Clark, a close friend of Slaughter's who plays for the Jaguars, was assaulted as he left a restaurant in Jacksonville, Fla.
Clark, who was on crutches because of a football injury, told the police that as he neared his luxury sports utility vehicle, a man approached, pointed a large handgun in his face and demanded his car keys. Clark handed them over and the man stole the vehicle, the police said.
"To watch your friend go through the aftereffects of getting robbed, that had an impact on me," Slaughter said. "At that point, I began to think it wasn't a question of if some guy was going to come after me or another teammate, but when."
The moment arrived, Slaughter believes, in October as he was driving on a highway late one night. A car with two men in it pulled alongside, Slaughter said.
The men rolled down a window and began yelling how much they admired the wheel rims on Slaughter's S.U.V. Then the men began cursing at him, Slaughter said.
Slaughter said he thought that he was being set up for a carjacking. He said he told the men to back away from the car, then rolled up his window.
"Now I ask you," Slaughter said, "who drives up to car, in the middle of the night, driving over 60 miles an hour, and says, `I like your rims'? I felt threatened."
The two men told the police that Slaughter had waved a handgun at them. Officers later stopped Slaughter and said they found a .40-caliber handgun and ammunition in Slaughter's S.U.V. Slaughter, who said he had owned the registered gun for five years, was arrested.
Charges of aggravated battery were dropped after Slaughter agreed to surrender his gun and to donate $500 to charity. He vehemently denied that he had flashed the gun at the men.
Would he reconsider owning a gun now? "No," Slaughter said. "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."
Mike Wise contributed reporting for this article.
I can see why the NFL cares about steroids, but why should they care who owns a gun?
several players said... some athletes have volatile tempers and a disagreement on the field could turn into a gun incident
Yeah. And before you know it, we'll be seeing Wild West Shootouts in the end zone after every touchdown. Things like that are inevitable when everybody is packing, including the Packers!
The Last Boy Scout...
There was that drive-by incident involving the pregnant girlfriend of Rae Carruth. But it was one of his crew who pulled the trigger.
Considering how many are otherwise out of control, and how few incidents there are, this seems a good argument that the NFLs concerns are unwarranted.
Add in that they automatically discount a players statements of feeling threatened, and one can see why they wouldn't see that there have been situations where a person who is a player might need a firearm.
That's an extremely broad statement. There is no permit required to purchase a firearm in many states. No such thing as an illegal gun.
AW--POOR BABIES! I totally support the Second Amendment, but what makes these overpaid, egotistical boobs more above the law than the average citizen, who in many cities/states would be criminally charged for possessing a gun to defend themself?
If this ever gets to be widely enforced, look for the population of Knoxville on Saturdays in the Fall to drop dramatically.
...with accents that double as birth control devices. 8^)
Yeah, I can say dat 'cuz I used to tawk like dat too. Fuggetaboutit.
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