Collegiate Times: “Crittenton real victim of Arenas’ gun scandal”
That headline from the Collegiate Times might not seem so outrageous if you didn’t know that Javaris Crittenton is facing murder charges. But the story actually tries to suggest that Gilbert Arenas is the bad guy, and Crittenton is a “victim.” Seriously?
Well, that’s how the Collegiate Times sees it:
“However, there was another player in that incident that has a story far more tragic: Javaris Crittenton. For the most part, the media ignored Crittenton because he wasn’t a big name. That all changed this weekend when Crittenton became wanted by the Atlanta police for the alleged murder of Jullian Jones, a 22-year-old mother of four.”
This all goes back to how Arenas and Crittenton became involved in a locker room showdown, one which did involve guns. The media tried to paint this as a “gun” thing, when in fact it is really an “overpaid athletes acting like thug” thing. But the Collegiate Times sees it otherwise:
“Gilbert Arenas ruined his (Crittenton’s) career — that’s how.”
So let’s get this straight? You lose your career over something stupid, and you end up a murderer? This sort of logic is too close to “society is to blame.” And that leads to blaming guns instead of blaming the criminals who pull the trigger.
FoxSports: NBA And Guns – Blame the Idiots
Writing this week for FoxSports.com, Jen Floyd Engel offered her opinion on the NBA’s reaction to firearms following the arrest of former Washington Wizards player Javaris Crittenton on murder charges. Instead of focusing on how Crittenton’s latest run in, which involves his alleged role in the murder of a mother of four, Floyd Engel notes that Crittenton was involved with a gun-related incident with teammate Gilbert Arenas and the NBA’s reaction.
She notes that the NBA is too quick to see this as a “gun problem,” and is blind the bigger issue:
“The Association focused on the guns. The mistake we made then was making it about the guns. Even NBA commish David Stern, whose response in hindsight saved the league an ugly embarrassment at best and a body bag in one of his locker rooms at worst, said, ‘The possession of firearms by an NBA player in an NBA arena is a matter of the utmost concern to us.’ See how we do that? The guns become the problem, allowing us to ignore the real issue. The NBA’s problem was not guns in the locker rooms; it was the idiots.”
Kudos to Floyd Engel for noting that this isn’t a problem of guns, but a problem of overpaid athletes behaving like idiots and wasting their talents.
WaPo Columnist Calls Second Amendment “Problematic”
In an op-ed piece about NBA basketball player Gilbert Arenas, Washington Post metro columnist Robert McCarthy actually said the following about the second amendment:
“… that amendment has become problematic in a modern society. It’s a vestige from an era when the nation was mostly rural and the guns were muskets. But it’s the law unless the text is amended, and there’s no chance of that in the current climate of opinion.”
Should we first remind McCarthy that the first amendment, which gave the freedom to the press, was written in a time when moveable type printing presses were advanced technology, and newspapers were entirely biased and wrote only what the owners felt was newsworthy? There was no radio, TV and the information superhighway was the dirt roads that connected the cities. But today the first amendment is still used to protect the right of a free press, whether it be online or in the few remaining newspapers.
As to the matter of Mr. Arenas. We feel he did get a slap on the wrist, and that is wrong. But this isn’t a matter of a gun issue to us at FirearmsTruth. This is a matter of the rich and famous getting away with crimes that would land others in jail. As we noted, a family who broke the law in New York City for having unlicensed guns will likely lose their home, go to jail and see their lives turned upside down. But Arenas, who pulled a gun on a teammate, received a suspended sentence and probation. He might lose his career playing basketball, but unless he spent every last penny, he likely still has a good life and can go home to his family every night.
So Mr. McCarthy you are partially right on this issue, but you’re dead wrong on saying that the second amendment has become problematic.
Arenas Admits He Should Be Punished
What a difference a week makes. While many have written about the NBA’s Gilbert Arenas and noted that there is a culture of “guns” in the world of sports, few have spoken out against Lil’ Wayne (who is finally behind bars where he belongs). What makes this different is that Arenas admits he was in the wrong for pulling a gun on a teammate and agrees that he should be punished.
We’re also expecting the anti-gun crowd to go nuts when they hear he has a collection of firearms that includes as many as 500 pieces, many from World War I. Arenas had said that he bought the collection from an older collector, and has most of it in storage.
Let’s hope that Arenas is punished accordingly, but let us also hope that those guns aren’t seized and destroyed. Those, like many athletes, should be viewed as American treasures.
Over The Top Reporting on Firearms from WTOP
We couldn’t resist that headline, because frankly the reporting at WTOP from Washington, D.C. seems to fit the call letters and is actually quite over the top. Consider these passages when reporting about the ongoing Gilbert Arenas:
- As a grand jury continues to hear the details of the gun incident involving Gilbert Arenas, WTOP has learned the Washington Wizards’ star has — at times — owned several hundred guns.
- By all accounts, the guns in Arenas’ collection were legally owned, yet it’s unclear how many he actually owned or still owns.
- The guns turned over to police include a so-called ‘Dirty Harry Revolver’ and a gold-plated Desert Eagle — which is so big and has such a powerful recoil — no law enforcement agency uses them.
OK, so if he actually owned them legally… why does it matter that he owned several hundred? Well, consider that this story was probably originally a piece for TV where a deep voice read out the words, “owned several hundred guns” for full effect. Likewise, the later usage of “no law enforcement agency uses them” has the same over the top style that “action news” just loves! This adds drama, where drama isn’t really needed. Isn’t it enough an under educated millionaire who is good playing with a ball draws a gun on another human being over gambling debts?
As for “no law enforcement uses them,” well what’s the point? No law enforcement uses .22 hunting rifles in all probability so what does this prove?
Apparently not for WTOP, so instead the story adds a clear anti-gun bias to the mix for good measure.
Firing Back: Multiple News Stories Miss Point on NBA Gun Incident
While it still isn’t entirely clear what transpired between NBA players Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton in the locker room, what is known is that firearms were involved. Regardless, the issue is that this is yet another example of the rich and semi-famous getting a different level of standards when it comes to firearm ownership and possession.
Firearms aren’t toys, and whether Arenas was joking when he “challenged” Crittenton to a duel is a moot point. The real issue is that Washington, D.C. is a city where gun ownership is closely controlled – yet these millionaires brandish firearms as it is just so much more “bling.” And that’s just bad news for those law-abiding citizens who actually respect the guns they hold in their hands.
NBA Players Allowed to Possess Guns!
Last month’s disturbing incident, which allegedly involved NBA player Gilbert Arenas of the Washington Wizards drawing a gun on a teammate, is something we haven’t really been following. There isn’t much to say. Guns aren’t toys and anyone brandishing a firearm in such a way should face severe punishment! There should be no exception, even for those rich and famous.
But what is now on radar is that the media has picked up on a few facets of the story. A recent story in The New York Daily News included this passage:
“An incident involving Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas in which he allegedly drew a firearm on a teammate has set off a firestorm of opinion among current NBA players, who tell of a flourishing gun culture in the NBA. If true, it could spell trouble for NBA commissioner David Stern.” Read more
