Posted by
John Caile on Sunday, January 03, 2010 12:01:18 PM
When Washington Wizards players Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton pulled guns on each other in their stadium locker room, they confirmed what most people already think about the NBA - that they are pretty much a bunch of former street thugs. Ironically, the team chose to replace their previous name - the "Bullets" - with the much more politically correct "Wizards" precisely to avoid this type of stigma. Oh, well.
But besides living up (or down) to the NBA stereotype, Arenas and Crittenton also made history - it was the first time in living memory that two professional athletes had ever actually engaged in an armed standoff. But more to the point, they did it in Washington, D.C. - rather embarrassing for a city that has probably the most stringent gun control laws in the nation.
The press is focusing on the two players, and what may or may not happen to their careers as a result of their little dust-up. But when it comes to the criminal justice system, my guess is that neither of them will be subjected to the same "justice" that you or I would experience.
True, Arenas already has a weapons
conviction for carrying a gun illegally in San Francisco in 2003, so he might be a little more likely to find himself in hot water than Crittenton. But there has been a history of professional athletes (not to mention the politically connected) being "given a pass" when it comes to gun law violations - something rarely done for the average citizen.
Cities like Chicago, where anti-gun left-wing Democrats have been in control for decades, are notorious for their sports and political figures cavalierly violating gun laws - with little or no consequences. In 1994, then Chicago Bulls player Scottie Pippen was arrested for having a gun in his SUV outside of a Chicago nightclub. Pippen of course charged "racism" - and the charges were ultimately dropped.
At least New York hit Plaxico Burress with actual prison time (2 years) for illegally carrying a gun at a nightclub...where he clumsily shot himself in the leg when he tried to stop the gun from sliding down the inside of his (are you ready?) sweat pants. They should have tacked on an extra year just for being guilty of "felony stupid."
And when it comes to special treatment for political big-shots, Chicago is the hands down winner. Because while Chicago citizens (just like the people of D.C.) cannot even own handguns at all, it is almost routine to read about some alderman not just owning, but carrying, a handgun - and suffering not so much as a fine. Meanwhile the average citizen would likely face felony charges for the exact same behavior.
But regardless of the legal ramifications, Arenas and Crittenton have certainly succeeded in validating the argument
of gun rights activists that gun control laws have virtually no affect
on criminals, and that society's "elites" behave as if they have no need to
follow the same rules the rest of us do.
We shall see...