Dec. 10, 2008

Have gun, don't travel: Plaxico should've known this

By Mike Freeman | CBSSports.com National Columnist
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If you think freaks and nuts are the only ones who carry concealed weapons, you're wrong. They're not just people like Plaxico Burress, people with an inflated sense of hubris and worth. They're average Americans. They're doctors, lawyers and accountants; teachers, moms and message board posters.

They're exactly like the people I saw in a concealed weapons class I took several years ago.

Apparently, Burress didn't learn his gun lessons well enough. (Getty Images)

So while I didn't want to pack a pistol, I did want to learn as much as possible about the gun laws, since I like to target shoot. No hunting for me. The only things I hunt are bad metaphors (insert easy comeback to that statement here).

The class was held inside the back of a gun store. There were more guns in this store than in the entire state of Texas. Small guns, big guns, sexy guns, guns with lights attached, guns with lasers attached, and guns attached to other guns.

All of the employees were armed, too, their weapons neatly packed in hip-hugging holsters. No wonder gun stores don't get robbed.

There was a room in the back with chairs and a chalkboard and two pistol-packing instructors. What shocked me most was the clientele. It was a slice of Americana. I always thought many civilians who applied to carry a concealed weapon spent most of their days in armed encampments deep in the woods, practicing goose-steps and talking about the mud people.

But inside the room were only normal-looking folks, except for the guy wearing a T-shirt that read "I brake for ammo." In all seriousness, what was most surprising was the number of women in the class. Probably half were female.

One woman told me she wanted to carry a pistol because she feared being attacked by an ex-boyfriend. A man in the class said he lived in a rough neighborhood and wanted protection. Another said he had been robbed several times.

There are athletes who say they carry guns for some of those exact same reasons. They fear for their safety. It's not a totally absurd notion. They are targets to some degree. Miami linebacker Joey Porter makes this case in an interview with ESPN.

"Plaxico is like a brother to me. I take it real personal how he's being treated," Porter said. "Everybody has their mistakes, but that's exactly what they are. ... Until you've been in that situation, when you've been robbed at gunpoint or you've had a gun waved in your face or had your house broken into before or been carjacked, you really don't know what it's like."

He added, "For a person to carry a gun, I mean, you're not carrying a gun to show that 'I'm tough.' It's safety, it's nothing but safety."

The last portion of that statement just isn't true. There have been past NFL players who brought their weapons into locker rooms. What did they fear there? An attack from their jock strap?

Guns are more about ego, not personal safety.

Many athletes like guns for the same reason I do (and most people do). There is a sense of power when you hold one, an ego trip. You feel invulnerable and powerful. Most gun owners, if they're truthful, will admit to this. Most athletes, if they're truthful, would do the same.

The difference is Burress and some other athletes want this power but ignore laws that govern weapons.

(One problem I do think occurs is that many NFL players spend their offseason in Florida, which apparently has far less restrictive gun laws than other states like, say, the state of New York. Players get used to Florida's laws then return home for the season.)

Some athletes also don't take the time to learn about the weapons they own. When Porter gives examples of other athletes getting shot or robbed and utilizes those moments as cautionary tales to justify gun ownership, he misses a basic and important point:

The majority of civilians don't have a fraction of the training needed to defend themselves with a gun, particularly if one is drawn on them.

Owning a gun might deter a robbery, it might not. The odds are probably better that you'll shoot yourself or someone else by accident with a gun before preventing a crime.

Back to the class: A woman, an armed woman, began instructing by speaking about the Constitution. It got a little preachy. My mind wandered. I wonder if Burress' class was like mine and, since Burress was probably late for the beginning, if Burress' instructor fined him the way Tom Coughlin would have.

We moved to the target range and started shooting. One man's first shot missed the entire target. He was immediately drafted by the Coast Guard (that's a joke). My shooting was decent. There are numerous gun-safety tips and then the night is over.

We get a neat little certificate. It says: "Good job not shooting your ---- off." That's also a joke. We were also provided a checklist of things to finish the legal requirements for pistol packing. I never finished because I just wanted the extra gun knowledge.

Supposedly, Burress finished all of the requirements before receiving his Florida permit.

And here's one thing I remember. We were told in my class -- repeatedly -- that gun laws vary from state to state. Don't carry your weapon out of the state unless you know the laws in the destination state, we were told.

Over and over and over.

If Burress' class was any good, he got the same advice.

If Burress did get that warning, he obviously didn't listen.