Sports Violence

Marcus Lowe   March 24/2009   HPE: 380   Violence in Sports; Athletes and Guns   Should athletes be allowed to carry licensed firearms for protection? Many people would suggest no and ridicule any athlete who expresses his Constitutional right to bear arms.   Over the past five years, many athletes have been the focal point of this topic about athletes with guns and if they should be allowed to carry them for protection. Personally I believe they should be able to carry there licensed firearms without facing penalty from the professional leagues for which they play for. Many athletes would agree that they are entitled to express there rights like any other law abiding citizen to protect themselves, family, and home from any danger.   Recently there have been more and more incidents about athletes and firearms. The most recent issue is the Plaxico Burress incident last November in a New York nightclub. The incident arose when Burress accidently shot himself in the thigh with and unregistered concealed handgun. He then was rushed to a hospital where he falsely gave his information to try to keep a low profile. In his particular case I believe that the suspension from the season was right only because he had an unregistered weapon in a nightclub. Other professional athletes such as Allen Iverson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Marvin Harrison, New York Yankee pitcher Carl Pavano, and many other athletes have been questioned about the carrying of firearms.   Many of these the rules that are set for these athletes are to insure the positive images that are the factors for the selling of leagues memorabilia and league sponsorships. I believe these athlete are having there rights stripped away from them for the sake of these leagues owners and officials. What they don’t understand is the lives that these young athletes live and how they use to live before they were multi million dollar athletes. Many of the athletes that I have just named were from poor, poverty infected...