Plaxico Buress VS.

[$tevie]

I just Googled this topic and it is more complicated than I had any idea of. I did not know his team mate Steve Smith was the victim of an armed holdup in his own driveway on November 25. My reaction would not be to acquire an illegal weapon, but I no longer find it crazy stupid, that's for sure:

But the Burress shooting is perhaps the result of a string of violent attacks on NFL players.

January 2007: Denver Broncos defensive back Darrent Williams is shot and killed after leaving a nightclub. Broncos receiver Javon Walker is riding in the limo.

September 2007: Houston Texans defensive back Dunta Robinson is the victim of a home invasion. Robinson says he and his family were forced to lie down at gunpoint and that the gunman told him, "You're a good player, so I'm not going to kill you."

November 2007: Sean Taylor of the Washington Redskins is shot and killed in his home.

June 2008: Walker, now with the Oakland Raiders, is robbed, beaten and found unconscious after leaving a Las Vegas nightclub.

September 2008: Jacksonville Jaguars lineman Richard Collier is shot 14 times after leaving a nightclub. He is left partially paralyzed and has his left leg amputated below the knee.

ESPN the Magazine chronicled these incidents in a story in which more than one player is quoted as saying that a gun makes him feel safe.

The article clearly documents a siege mentality among NFL players. Although it never compares NFL crime rates with overall crime rates or addresses whether the two high-profile murders have skewed players' perceptions, in a way that doesn't matter. The salient point is that players whose job it is to listen to authority figures are told by team-hired security experts that they can become victims. So they begin to feel victimized and, voila, Burress tucks a gun in his pants, fiddles with the safety — and jeopardizes his health, his livelihood and his team's chances of success.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story...d=97802447