Whitlock - Athletes and guns a bad mix

[Hammock Parties]

Great column, jwhit...and you didn't even mention Larry Johnson.

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/col...ry/604262.html

When you’re a high-profile-millionaire anything, gun-toting does not enhance your safety. It jeopardizes it.Indianapolis Colts receiver Marvin Harrison learned that lesson last week. I hope members of the Kansas City Chiefs are paying attention.

Harrison has spent the past decade crafting a relatively impeccable reputation as a Hall of Fame receiver and private, community-minded role model. A decade of work just might be rendered pointless because the 35-year-old Harrison felt the need to carry a weapon.

Many professional athletes have made the same decision. According to a Boston Globe report in November of 2006, NFL and NBA players are most likely to legally carry concealed weapons, and “handgun ownership is much less prevalent in Major League Baseball and rare in the National Hockey League.”

Do I need to spell out for you which particular type of professional athlete feels most compelled to arm? Here’s a hint: It’s the same group that looks most like me and is most likely to die by gun violence.

It’s a vicious little cycle. Black athletes carry guns to protect themselves, but they fail to realize or choose to ignore that their decision to carry escalates the potential for trouble.

I’m not going to convict Marvin Harrison of any wrongdoing in the shooting incident that transpired Tuesday night outside the car detail shop he owns in Philadelphia. The police have not charged Harrison with a crime. They have only questioned him. His agent, NFL power-broker Tom Condon, somehow managed to get ESPN.com and The Indianapolis Star to focus Web headlines on the fact that Condon’s investigation exonerates Harrison of any role in the shooting.

But what we do know, according to Philadelphia newspapers and radio stations, is that Harrison and the shooting victim (shot in the hand) were involved in some sort of verbal and perhaps physical confrontation inside Playmakers bar, which Harrison also owns. The victim walked out with Harrison following. Multiple shots were fired. A 2-year-old child was hit by a piece of flying glass. And a gun owned by and registered to Harrison was used in the shooting.

Pardon me while I play detective Lennie Briscoe for a moment: My working theory of the case is that Harrison would’ve never followed the victim out of the bar if Harrison did not own a gun. Matter of fact, I doubt that Harrison would’ve engaged in a serious verbal or physical battle had he not owned a gun.

Handguns are like alcohol. They give men “courage” they don’t normally have.

You see, when you carry a gun, you tend to go places you have no business going. You pick fights you have no business picking.

Marvin Harrison is a millionaire athlete headed for the Hall of Fame. It’s my suspicion that the man inside the bar was neither a millionaire nor athlete nor future Hall of Famer. The man Harrison bickered with had a lot less to lose than Harrison. That is generally the first and best sign that you’ve picked the wrong fight.

If there are any professional athletes still reading this, the same equation applies to picking a wife/husband or serious girlfriend/boyfriend. If all she brings to the table is a big butt, a smile and a modeling portfolio from onemodelplace.com, you’d be wise to never say “I do.”

I digress. No one wants to hear marriage advice from the King of Dysfunction, a prime candidate for an episode of “Springer.”

My point is about athletes and guns. The rules are simple. If you think you are going some place at a time when you think you need a gun, just don’t go. It’s really that easy. I’ve been most places in Kansas City and Indianapolis. I’ve been to all the alleged bad areas. My dad has owned a bar in the ‘hood my entire life. I visit often. I go at the right time. I don’t go looking for trouble. And when trouble comes looking for me, I bounce.

I’m sure Marvin Harrison has a lot of friends and family members counting on him. They would be devastated emotionally and quite possibly financially if Marvin landed in jail.

All these millionaire athletes owe it to their families to unarm themselves in public settings. This is America. We all have the right to bear arms. But it’s unwise to carry them when you already have a gigantic target on your back.

I don’t say this to be flip. It’s a sad reality: Gas and food prices are skyrocketing. So is jealousy. The mixture is highly combustible. A pro athlete carrying a gun is begging for trouble to ignite.