NFL, NBA, MLB: "Athletes and guns" and "Bottom line: Bullets perilous"

[cuchulainn]

from the Chicago Tribune

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/cs-030208guns,0,2290799.story?coll=cs-home-headlines

Part I: Athletes and guns
By Michael Hirsley
Tribune staff reporter

February 8, 2003, 7:47 PM CST


A year ago, Jayson Williams was best known as a quick-witted 6-foot-10-inch athlete who had been one of the NBA's top rebounders until a leg injury ended his career. His gift of gab then helped him become a basketball analyst for NBC television.

Today, he is known as a suspected killer.

Next month, lawyers for the former New Jersey Nets star are scheduled to appear before a New Jersey appeals court to argue that Williams should not be tried for manslaughter in the shooting death of limousine driver Costas "Gus" Chrisofi last Feb. 14. Williams, who remains free on $270,000 bond, recently settled a civil lawsuit filed by Chrisofi's family. Terms were not disclosed.

Though he might be the most prominent example of an athlete whose use of firearms led to legal trouble, Williams is hardly the only one.

The list of athletes charged with gun violations in recent years includes pro basketball's Charles Barkley and Scottie Pippen; major-league baseball's Steve Howe, Jose Canseco and Gary Sheffield; the NFL's Andre Rison, Alonzo Spellman and Damien Robinson, and coaches Bob Knight and Barry Switzer. In recent months the list has expanded to include the Bulls' Marcus Fizer and professional boxer Michael Bennett.

The nation's four leading pro sports leagues—the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball—are so worried about the problem that they conduct annual seminars for their athletes on firearms. The common theme: Don't own one.

Yet the problem persists for varying reasons, according to experts and athletes interviewed by the Tribune.

"A disproportionate percentage of athletes grew up in environments where guns exist," such as rural areas with hunting traditions or crime-ridden inner cities, said sociologist Harry Edwards, who consults with the San Francisco 49ers. Former Bears linebacker Bryan Cox once said, "Where I'm from, in East St. Louis, Ill., a gun was like a credit card."

What distinguishes athletes from others coming from such backgrounds is that they attain the wealth and influence to easily acquire what they want, including guns, Edwards said.

"If you took people of that same age and circumstance and gave them the wherewithal to purchase these guns, they would do so," he said.

Another reason, Edwards said, is the fear among young millionaires who are often targeted by thives.

"Sometimes athletes see guns as a court of last resort when confrontation occurs," he said.

But there is also a more visceral connection, said Richard Lapchick, who studied the weapons issue for years as director of the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Boston's Northeastern University.

"Athletes are fascinated by guns, as they are with cars, because they are symbols of manhood," said Lapchick, who now chairs programs in sports business, diversity and ethics at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

Though the charges against athletes make headlines, there is little to suggest that sports figures are arrested more often on firearms charges than other groups. Yet experts say these arrests are especially troubling because some young people try to emulate sports stars.

Lapchick sees athletes' gun-related arrests as the tip of a larger problem. "America is obsessed with guns," he said.

That view is shared by Milt Ahlerich, the NFL's head of security.

"We've got a disease in this country, not just among athletes, about possession of guns," he said.

<snip>

Some want protection

Though a sports star's arrest makes headlines, most professional athletes keep their names off the police blotter. Some, such as the Utah Jazz's Karl Malone, have been advocates of legal, safe gun ownership. Malone has even been a spokesman for the National Rifle Association.

Yet they have been overshadowed by scores of contemporaries who have violated gun laws, most often by possessing or carrying guns illegally.

Athletes are not caught in gun-related incidents more often than the average person, "but they are celebrities so they get in the news because of it," said Peter Roby, the current director of Northeastern's Center for the Study of Sport in Society.

Former Atlanta Falcon Tim Green, now a TV commentator, estimated that "one out of every three of my teammates had handguns. A lot of them kept them in their cars and as a home-defense kind of thing."

Some athletes, such as Jalen Rose of the Bulls, openly advocate gun ownership as a means of protection. Last September, a would-be carjacker tried to stop Rose in his car on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. When the man pulled a gun, Rose sped away. The assailant fired eight shots from a 9mm handgun, one of which struck Rose's passenger.

"I'm just fortunate to be living," Rose said, adding that the incident hasn't changed his position on guns.

"I'm from Detroit, Mich., which has been the violence capital of the world, so to speak," he said. "…You look at the [sniper] incidents that happened around Washington, D.C. We live in worried times.

"The unfortunate thing is that the people who are normal citizens who go out and make a hard-earned living every day and don't have guns are outnumbered by the people who are doing the opposite and do sometimes have guns."

Asked if he keeps a gun, Rose smiled and replied, "If I told you that ..." But Rose said he does not assume a gun would have helped him that night in Los Angeles.

"Having protection may have done wonders or it may have put me in a worse situation," he said. "You never know."

That said, Rose allowed that he was troubled by teammate Fizer's October arrest on a felony charge after police allegedly discovered a loaded handgun in his car.

"To be honest, I think he has to do a better job of being responsible and having his paperwork in order if he's going to carry a gun," Rose said.

Fizer declined to comment because of his pending court case. He has pleaded not guilty.

"The thing about carrying a gun is, I don't feel it's necessarily the right thing to do," Rose said. "Because guns don't kill people, stupid people at the wrong time kill people. I don't feel that just because you have a gun, you're protected."

Former pitcher and current ESPN analyst Rob Dibble, who said he has a permit to carry a firearm, concurred.

"Just like a professional ballplayer can always beat an amateur with a baseball, a professional mugger can always beat an amateur with a gun," he said.

<snip>

Copyright © 2003, The Chicago Tribune

 

[cuchulainn]

and

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune...09guns,0,6580275.story?coll=cs-home-headlines

Bottom line: Bullets perilous
League officials warn of dangers

By Michael Hirsley
Tribune staff reporter

February 9, 2003, 10:02 PM CST

CHARLOTTE -- Of the myriad incidents involving athletes and guns, none is grimmer than the story of Fred Lane, and few ended more tragically.

Lane beat the odds when he rushed from small-college obscurity to NFL stardom, gaining more than 800 yards in his 1997 rookie season with the Carolina Panthers. But he could not beat the odds when his personal life, especially his marriage, began to sour.

Weapons were part of his undoing. A rifle found in his car trunk signaled the acceleration of his decline. A shotgun kept in his house marked the end.

As professional sports grapple with the issue of athletes and improper gun use, Lane's story stands as an example of officials' worst nightmare—a star athlete dead at the height of his career or one charged in connection with a firearms-related death.

It is the type of scenario that professional sports league officials had in mind when they started annual seminars to teach players about the dangers that arise when they choose to own guns, either lawfully or illicitly. Their common and repeated message: Don't own a gun.

And it is the sort of tragedy that experts say may well happen again, as long as some athletes treat firearms as toys, status symbols and fashion accessories.

<snip>

Guns a priority

Every year, Major League Baseball security director Kevin Hallinan visits rookies and veteran players alike during spring training.

"I deal with what I consider top-priority topics," he said. "This season it was identity theft, protecting credit cards and such ... and guns."

Among other things, the players saw security personnel play out a scenario involving an armed ballplayer confronting an intruder in his home. In a flash, the intruder would disarm the athlete and put a gun to his head.

"The players were impressed with the drama, but some thought our guy gave the gun up too quickly, so we let them try to do better," Hallinan said. "Although they think they have better hand-eye coordination, those players were 0-for-9."

Other leagues, including the NFL, NBA and NHL, have similar programs. The NFL has gone further, banning players and league employees from carrying weapons while on league business.

"We try not to be preachy," Hallinan said. "But we show the dangers and possible legal consequences of carrying guns, particularly with different states and cities having different rules concerning them."

The NBA starts its gun education in rookie transition programs, stressing that making it to basketball's premier league "means you're in the media and people know who you are, and you will be viewed differently because of who you are," said former player Purvis Short, director of player programs for the NBA Players Association.

League officials and experts said they were concerned not so much about legal gun ownership and use as they were about gun violence, and professional athletes' status as role models.

Jon Vernick, co-director of the John Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, said he is troubled when he sees athletes abdicating that responsibility and by what he sees as loopholes in firearm legislation and prosecution.

Vernick noted that former NBA star Jayson Williams was charged with a felony eight years ago when he was accused of shooting at an empty security van at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. But that charge was pleaded down to a misdemeanor.

Williams has since been charged in connection with the shooting death of a limousine driver in his home. According to authorities, Williams was showing off a shotgun when it fired, killing the man.

"If Williams had been convicted of a felony back then, it would have been illegal for him to have a gun," Vernick said.

Concealed carry concerns

Across the country, 31 states allow residents to carry concealed firearms, generally after receiving a permit. The standards for getting such permits vary widely.

Using freedom-of-information requests and league records, the Tribune matched the names of two dozen professional athletes with the names of people who have concealed carry permits in Florida. None of the athletes agreed to be interviewed.

Other states refused requests for lists of people who hold concealed carry permits. Illinois refused requests for lists of people who hold firearms owner-identification cards, required to own a gun in this state.

But such permits identify only those athletes who have gone through the steps to legally carry or possess weapons. Several other athletes have been charged because they carried weapons without such legal clearance.

Ahlerich, who was an assistant director of the FBI before joining the NFL seven years ago, cringes at the idea.

"I've debated that kind of attitude among the players, the notion that you don't travel in my neighborhood without a gun," he said. "I disagree strongly. If you carry a gun, you've introduced something that won't necessarily protect you and that can lead to you killing someone.

"You've compounded the danger of a dangerous situation."

The NFL's written policy bans players and all other league employees from possessing a gun or other weapon while "traveling on league-related business."

That includes taking a gun or other weapon to any facility owned or used by any team or the league, from stadiums to locker rooms to training camps to hotels to offices.

"There are not a great number of areas with NFL rules as to what players can and cannot do," Ahlerich said. "[But] guns has become one of those areas."

Ahlerich and two other league officials, senior security director Reuben Bradford and player liaison and support manager Ed Reynolds, speak to every NFL team during the preseason.

"For starters, we advise, 'Don't own a gun,'" Ahlerich said. "If you are going to own a weapon, own it legally."

Even if a player chooses to keep the gun in his home, the consequences may be just as deadly and more personal, he warns.

"If you think some younger person in your family is not going to find the gun you've hidden somewhere, you are mistaken," he said.

"Practice gun safety, get a trigger lock and keep the weapon and ammunition separate. If you carry a weapon, take training on how to properly use and secure it."

 

[Don Gwinn]

Oh, Lord. Well, that's interesting.

I notice that Scottie Pippen is listed as having been arrested for a "gun violation." The "violation" was that he had a handgun in his car when he played for Chicago.

Jalen Rose, at least, seems to understand that a gun can be a good thing to have. But what's this about "having your paperwork in order" to "carry a gun?" I'd love to find out if he's just ignorant of Illinois law, or if he actually has some kind of workaround--maybe he's been deputized? It is absolutely illegal for any private citizen to carry a loaded firearm outside a sealed gun case in Illinois. There are no exceptions, there are no permits for any reason whatsoever. In Chicago, Jalen Rose could not possibly legally own a handgun. He'd have to have registered it before the early 80's or possibly during the amnesty a few years back--but he didn't live in Chicago back then.

 

[Don Gwinn]

Among other things, the players saw security personnel play out a scenario involving an armed ballplayer confronting an intruder in his home. In a flash, the intruder would disarm the athlete and put a gun to his head.

"The players were impressed with the drama, but some thought our guy gave the gun up too quickly, so we let them try to do better," Hallinan said. "Although they think they have better hand-eye coordination, those players were 0-for-9."

Ohhhhhh . . . . kay. Did they do this with airsoft, paintball or even a simple water gun? Did the intruder lose if he got shot before he got the gun? I've worked with people with some martial arts skills who knew I was coming and with what and rarely been disarmed before they got shot, usually with airsoft. If you do this kind of drill with a red gun or something else that can't shoot a projectile, you can make it pretty impressive, but there aren't many people in this country who can do it reliably against someone who knows they're going to try a disarm, are there? Something smells.
Let the average 12-year-old be the gunman in this drill, and you will get shot. A lot.