NFL Player With CWP Shoots Self in Leg

[Templar]

Some of the decisions made by NFL players makes you wonder...if he had planned out going out drinking and having a good time just hire a body guard or two. Stuffing a pistol into his waist band and going out drinking...

[jwtollett21]

This guy is a thug anyways. He has had some problems this year. He's a heck of an anthlete though but as it seems he isn't to smart. He should of just left the gun at home if he was going to the club. I agree with templar he should have just hired some body guards. But on the other hand. He shot himself not a big deal. I don't feel to sorry for him. They are talking about the minimum penalty is like 3 years and the max is 7. I just think that is ridiculous. Come on people. Jail time for carrying a gun is extreme if you ask me. unless you are a criminal or something thats different.

[t-diddy]

...couple things... how do you "bobble" a gun that's in yo draw's when you caught the "game winning" pass in the super bowl? may be a dumb move but i hardly think he deserved what he got. i'm also wondering why bloomberg is calling for prosecution to the fullest. would he do that if say, i "bobbled" a gun in nyc? would he wonder why my employer didn't contact the popo? an unfortunte incident that bloomberg and his anti cronies may actually be able to benefit from.
this is just the kind of ammo the antis have been looking for. what plax allegedly did wasn't just irresponsible and dangerous it was illegal. it may have set us back. think about it... carrying concealed at a club in state that doesn't honor the non-res cwp you're carrying that has expired??? and there was a ND?
back to my point. if it hadn't been a high profile athlete in this situation, would the city's mayor have called for prosecution to the fullest? would he have talked about how said suspect's employer hadn't contacted his office. plax may have screwed up for all of us, but you can bet bloomberg and the others have been waiting for a situation like this.

[rheaj]

I am actually hopeful that this incident brings national light to NYC's absurd gun laws. Buress is well liked as a football player. His various antics have been relative low profile on the media radar until now. I am hoping that some folks who hear about this, who aren't really knowledgable about the various gun laws around the nation, will be a little surprised. TWO felnoy counts?? One for the gun and ANOTHER for the magazine?? MANDATORY prison term of THREE AND A HALF YEARS??? I'm hoping this will raise the eyebrows of a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't even know about this kind of right-tromping tyrrany that happens in NYC all the time. How many people heard about the hot dog vendor who went to jail for having a gun? Or the guy who had a revolver in his basement and got turned in? Few care about them. Someone in the media needs to put this incident in the bright light, right along with similar stories of these abuses of power in NYC. Yeah it was stupid and dangerous, but so is NYC law. Let's not forget that part is in this story too.

[Templar]

More news....

"Main Threat to Burress Is a Sentencing Law"

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/sp...1&ref=football

[Templar]

Thought this was interesting...

Plaxico Burress case highlights draconian gun laws

New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself with his own gun while nightclubbing in Manhattan. For his troubles, he received not just the medical treatment he needed and the public shaming he deserved (for lousy gun handling), but a fine and suspension from his team and the possibility of spending 15 years behind bars because the gun isn't licensed in New York City. Quietly, I suspect lots of New Yorkers sympathize with the unfortunate football player.

In carrying an unlicensed handgun, Burress is in good company. New York City politicians, protected by phalanxes of taxpayer-funded guards and politically awarded permits to carry weapons, impose some of the toughest gun laws in the country on the people over whom they rule. Even long guns require permits and registration, and the handgun permitting process is an ordeal that takes months and money and requires applicants to submit to a fair share of abuse from officials on the off chance they'll be approved. Even then, the city has been known to arbitrarily yank already issued handgun permits just to reduce the numbers on the streets.

Not surprisingly, many New Yorkers have chosen to acquire the means for self defense outside of official channels. While crime rates in the city are low now compared to years past, some neighborhoods are better than others, and some people are more at risk than their neighbors. Even the wealthy can be targets, if they don't hide, like Mayor Bloomberg, behind bodyguards. The International Herald Tribune reports, "Burress has not spoken publicly about what possessed him to pack a gun, but some have speculated that he was carrying it for safety reasons after teammate and fellow wide receiver Steve Smith was robbed at gunpoint three days earlier after being driven to his town house in a chauffeur-driven car." So owning and carrying a weapon has potential benefits, whether or not officials approve.

Nobody knows how many unlicensed guns are in New York City, but the running estimate for years has been two million. I come from a family that owned guns in the city for generations before I finally applied for a handgun permit in the mid-1990s so that I could shoot at the range. After I was "out" as a gun owner, I was approached repeatedly be people who assumed (correctly) that I'd be sympathetic to their armed-and-underground status and were, often, curious as to how they could "get legal." Some were longtime city dwellers who'd packed illegally since the Sullivan Act was young, others were new to the city, carrying iron from back home. All were curious as to the process for reducing their legal exposure while retaining their ability to defend themselves.

I told them not to bother. It's not worth the hassle and expense to "get legal," just to wonder if the cops will decide to cull you from the roles of permit-holders one day, or kick in your door because you forgot to renew on time.

I'm obviously not the only person to come to that conclusion. New York has responded not by making its laws less intrusive and easier to follow, but by toughening penalties. The potential hit for being caught in possession of loaded, unlicensed gun is now 15 years, up from seven not too long ago. It's also a felony conviction.

But the potential hit from not being able to defend yourself and your family against bad guys is being dead. It's hard to trump that with prison time.

And authorities require medical staff to report any patients that come through their doors with gunshot wounds, the better to enforce the law (similar reporting requirements are in place elsewhere and may also apply to other situations, such as child abuse). Mayor Bloomberg is quite cross that doctors and nurses at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell didn't immediately snitch on Burress to the cops.

Here's a newsflash: Doctors' and nurses' first priority is saving lives, not dropping a dime. I know many medical personnel, and they're often quite adept at selective blindness, deafness and short-term memory loss. They want the sick and injured to seek their help, not fear them. They're also not always impressed by the wisdom of the law.

In the end, toughening penalties for violating laws that offend people's sense of liberty, justice and common sense doesn't actually improve the viability of those laws. Instead, it widens the gap between how politicians want people to behave, and how those people actually live their lives. It also encourages popular contempt toward government and the law.

That contempt is probably a good thing. But less fortunate are the victims produced along the way, including athletes threatened with a decade or more behind bars for the "crime" of injuring themselves.

[DrDavidM]

Very nice response to the situation. Thanks for posting it.

[rheaj]

Templar - did you write this, or find this posted somewhere? If it is posted somewhere in the media, please give the link here. I will spread it around. This would be exactly the kind of coverage I was hoping to see from this.

EDIT - Never mind, a quick Google search found it:

http://www.examiner.com/x-536-Civil-...onian-gun-laws

[Templar]

Glad you guys enjoyed the article as I did. My apologies for not posting the link where I found it, when I posted the article I forgot to post the link. Sorry guys!

Templar - did you write this, or find this posted somewhere? If it is posted somewhere in the media, please give the link here. I will spread it around. This would be exactly the kind of coverage I was hoping to see from this.

EDIT - Never mind, a quick Google search found it:

Civil Liberties Examiner: Plaxico Burress case highlights draconian gun laws

[Templar]

Another interesting "pro gun" article. This case is getting a lot of attention...

Free Plaxico Burress
New York City's gun law is unconstitutional.

by DAVID B. KOPEL 12/4/08 Free Plaxico Burress - WSJ.com

New York Giants star receiver Plaxico Burress is facing a mandatory 3½ years in prison and the end of his football career. His crime? Not having a license, which New York City never would have issued him, for the exercise of his constitutional right to bear arms.


AP
Plaxico Burress is led to his arraignment in Manhattan.
To be sure, Mr. Burress got caught because of what appears to have been stupid and irresponsible behavior connected with the handgun. But he does not face prison for shooting himself. His impending mandatory sentence highlights the unfairness and unconstitutionality of New York City's draconian gun laws.

Mr. Burress had previously had a handgun carry permit issued by Florida, for which he was required to pass a fingerprint-based background check. As a player for the Giants, he moved to Totowa, N.J., where he kept a Glock pistol. And last Friday night, he reportedly went to the Latin Quarter nightclub in midtown Manhattan carrying the loaded gun in his sweatpants. Because New York state permits to possess or carry handguns are not issued to nonresidents, Mr. Burress could not apply for a New York City permit.

At the nightclub, the handgun accidentally discharged, shooting Mr. Burress in the right thigh. He was not seriously injured, but he has been charged with criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.

It appears that he put the unholstered gun in the waistband of his sweatpants, and when it slipped, he grabbed for it, accidentally hitting the trigger. To make matters worse, according to press accounts, he was seen drinking and may have been consuming alcohol -- which all firearms safety training (including the class he would have been required to take for his Florida permit) absolutely forbids for people handling guns. And of course Mr. Burress's handgun should have been holstered to prevent unintentional movement of the trigger. Fortunately, his negligent discharge did not harm anyone else.

Mr. Burress's behavior was bad. However, Mr. Burress is not facing prosecution for carelessness, but simply for carrying a weapon. This is unjust and perhaps unconstitutional. The legal issues are a bit tangled, but here is the background:

This summer, the Supreme Court ruled in District of Columbia v. Heller that the District's handgun ban, and its ban on use of any firearm for self-defense in the home, violated the Second Amendment, which guarantees the individual right to bear arms. D.C. is a federal enclave, and the Court did not rule whether the Second Amendment applies to state and local governments. But as other cases reach it in the wake of Heller, it will.

The Heller decision did not say that requiring a license to carry a gun was unconstitutional. But in New York State, nonresidents cannot even apply for the licenses to possess or carry a handgun. Unlike most other states, New York refuses to honor carry permits issued by sister states. Most observers believe that the Supreme Court will eventually make state and local governments obey the Second Amendment. If it does, New York's discrimination against nonresidents will probably be ruled unconstitutional.

And then there is the issue of the permitting process for residents. In 40 states, including Connecticut, law-abiding adults are issued permits once they pass a fingerprint-based background check and a safety class. In New Jersey, carry permits are virtually never issued. In New York City, carry permits are issued, but to applicants with some form of political clout rather than on the basis of his or her need for protection.

The Second Amendment might not require New Jersey or New York City to issue as liberally as Connecticut does. But with a population of several million and only a few thousand (consisting mainly of politicians, retired police and celebrities) able to get permits, New York City's licensing process is almost certainly unconstitutional on a number of grounds, including sheer arbitrariness.

Some commentators contend that Plaxico Burress should have hired bodyguards, instead of carrying a gun himself. Mr. Burress might now agree. But people who aren't as wealthy as he is also deserve to be safe, and they don't have the money for bodyguards. New York City needs to regularize its carry permit system so that law-abiding people can protect themselves, especially if their circumstances (such as being a witness to a gang crime) place them at heightened risk.

The Burress case also shows why mandatory sentences are a bad idea. He was careless but had no malign intent. Legislators and mayors like to appear tough by pushing through such draconian laws. Yet the victims are people like Mr. Burress whose conduct may have been improper, but who do not deserve the same sentences meted out to robbers and burglars.

Mr. Kopel is a policy analyst with the Cato Institute, in Washington, D.C., and research director of the Independence Institute, in Golden, Colo.