It’s heartening to learn that some NFL players are turning in their guns.
Since Jovan Belcher’s murder-suicide last week, several African American NFL players are correctly starting to reflect on how loaded weapons can destroy lives.
“In the last seven days, at least seven players around the league have gone to their league security officers to turn in the firearms that they possessed from their homes,” Peter King, a sports analyst, said on NBC’s Sunday night’s football broadcast.
“I’m also told that one of these players who had multiple firearms told the security officer, ‘I don’t trust myself with these guns in the house. Please take them away.’”
That’s a powerful statement from men who enjoy their pistols as much as they like their footballs. A recent USA Today poll found that three out of four NFL players own guns, as opposed to 40% to 45% of the general population.
The proliferation of guns in America should be considered as a national crisis, particularly since the leading cause of death among black males 15-24 years old is homicide – mostly the result of gunshots.
But one Chiefs player said he owns a gun and doesn’t see a problem with a weapon in the home.
“Just because we’re NFL players, it doesn’t make us no different,” Chiefs defensive tackle Shaun Smith told USA Today.
“Some of you guys probably have guns in your houses,” Smith added.” If you have daughters, you should. You never know when somebody might try to rob you or do whatever, you know?”
COMMENTARY: NFL Players Give Up Their Guns in Response to Belcher Death was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
