Plaxico Buress VS.

[Seacrest]

I sold all my shares in PlaxiCo last year, so I couldn't give a shite.

[$tevie]

I hadn't really thought about it like this, mick e. Good points to ponder.

[$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

[(vikm)]

I'd have no problem with him carrying a weapon if it was being done so legally. I don't know the local laws there but if it's allowable there, why not apply for a carry permit? This is one of the types that these special permits are provided for. Part of the reason for the regulation and requirement for permits is that someone that is licensed is also more likely to have training that would lessen the chance of this exact sort of incident happening. He's still a fool. I'm not 100% sold on him doing time if he's not had any run ins before. That does seem excessive given the circumstances but we're not even talking about this if it wasn't such a serious issue and he wasn't knowingly doing something he wasn't legally permitted to do.

[OWC Jamie]

Next time a hunter shoots a hunting companion in the face in a nightclub with an illegal procured weapon he should get the exact same Bloomberg rage.

[mick e]

Again. It was illegal for Plax to carry a gun in this situation, but he shot himself, no one else. He did not brandish it to attack anyone or threaten anyone. He just had it.

Cheney was hunting, legally. He shot SOMEONE ELSE, and ALMOST KILLED HIM. mick e considers this to be something of an equalizer to Buress' illegal gun charge, but that's just an opinion. It is arguable that Cheney was MORE reckless with his weapon given the circumstances.

Regardless, they BOTH attempted to sweep these respective incidents under the rug.

Buress will be charged for doing so, Cheney never was.

Buress lost his job. Cheney didn't.

Buress was penalized MILLIONS. Cheney not a dime.

[(vikm)]

I got ya mick e. See what you're saying. I just don't happen to agree with the two incidents being "equal". If one is truly accidental (Cheney) with really no signs of negligence and the other is also an accident and was only possible due to the illegal nature of their actions, I just can't see them as equal. I'd even go so far as to say that someone that was willing to illegally carry a firearm isn't too many steps from waving it as a show of power or strength thinking it will end a potential altercation with someone that may have gotten all puffy chested. It's happened all too often before.

Just a difference of opinion. I still don't like Dick, though and actually hate coming off like I'm defending him.

[vision63]

They're scared. Also NBA players have suffered holdups and home invasions. Lamar Odom was mugged in Queens right after burying his infant son by somebody he once knew. THe hospital is more in trouble than Plaxico for not reporting it. Why does Bloomberg care? He's the one that engineered himself past term limits?

[$tevie]

Obviously something is broken, but I don't think making an example of Buress is going to fix it. Or even have any impact.

[Spock]

The dumb sh!t should go to jail but he won't. He'll get a pass, just like that drunken NBA thug Jayson Williams who shot and killed his limo driver.