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Split Wide and Disarmed
American Spectator ^ | 15 june 2011 | Daniel J. Flynn

Posted on 06/15/2011 6:15:23 AM PDT by rellimpank

NFL wide receiver Plaxico Burress just finished twenty months in prison for carrying a firearm. New York prosecutors said that the gun was unlicensed. The Constitution begs to differ.

One might think that this injustice would spark the former Steeler and Giant to lay down $1,000 for a National Rifle Association lifetime membership. Instead, after losing the bulk of a $35 million contract, endorsement deals, and nearly two years of his life behind bars, Burress, perversely, has joined forces with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Burress announced Monday that he will speak about the perils of gun ownership to audiences across the country. "If I can just help a child to think about the decision of carrying a firearm or not to carry one out of the home, he or she may save lives," the former all-pro wide receiver remarked. "You can make a mistake and you can be a better person from it and along the way bring people with you."

(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: banglist; rkbanba

1 posted on 06/15/2011 6:15:25 AM PDT by rellimpank
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To: rellimpank

Simple. He’s a criminal who can’t legally carry a gun. He doesn’t anyone to have superior fire power.


2 posted on 06/15/2011 6:18:01 AM PDT by dangus
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To: rellimpank

The guy carries a loaded gun, in his sweat pants, no holster, and shoots himself in the leg. Now he is a supporter of gun control laws.

I must say the man is in good company with Brady.


3 posted on 06/15/2011 6:18:15 AM PDT by kingpins10
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To: rellimpank

This is not about what Plaxico thinks about guns or the Second Amendment. This is about trying to convince the NFL owners and Roger Goodell that he’s a changed man and is ready to play.


4 posted on 06/15/2011 6:22:32 AM PDT by pgkdan ( Time for a Cain Mutiny!)
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To: rellimpank

Methinks it’s because, deep down, he believes owning guns is and should be illegal. Despite handgun ownership being LEGAL in NY with a little paperwork (he sure has the funds to have a lawyer work thru the worst that even NYC would put him thru for one), and despite knowing unlicensed ownership in NY being a serious crime, he obtained and carried the weapon thru illegal means and in continuing violation of the law. Upon being caught and charged, he pled guilty (or mounted an inept defense) because he assumed he was. It never crossed his mind that being armed in defense of self, family, etc. is an INALIENABLE RIGHT for which he should, with his huge income, hire the best lawyers to defend (and even benefit state residents by overturning the oppressive prohibitions). Duly punished for what HE believed a crime, he indulges his remorse by promoting the notion that what he did was a crime.

Nobody ever cornered him and explained “you did nothing wrong, in fact what you did is explicitly protected in the federal Constitution and reflected as a civil right in state law; now get off your sorry *** and put some of that money to use to defend your rights and relieve the state’s residents!”

He did not see himself as an upstanding citizen exercising a right to defend life.
He saw himself as a bada$$ indulging the visceral excitement of a life of crime and money.
When caught, he acted according to his beliefs.


5 posted on 06/15/2011 6:25:14 AM PDT by ctdonath2
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To: pgkdan

Yep. There are tens of millions of dollars at stake. He’s absolutely doing the right thing for his future.


6 posted on 06/15/2011 6:25:15 AM PDT by Wolfie
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To: pgkdan

They could start a nice expansion team with ex-cons of the NFL.


7 posted on 06/15/2011 6:26:14 AM PDT by Mr Ramsbotham (Laws against sodomy are honored in the breech.)
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To: pgkdan

And the sports leagues are increasingly about liberal, PC groupthink.


8 posted on 06/15/2011 6:27:15 AM PDT by JacksonCalhoun (CT Yankee in NC Exile)
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To: Mr Ramsbotham

“They could start a nice expansion team with ex-cons of the NFL”

Then who would be left to play????


9 posted on 06/15/2011 6:29:11 AM PDT by KEmom (Proud to be a Mama Grizzly!!!)
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To: ctdonath2

VERY well stated: he thought he was being a badass rather than being a conscientious exerciser of his 2A rights.

Colonel, USAFR


10 posted on 06/15/2011 6:30:58 AM PDT by jagusafr ("We hold these truths to be self-evident...")
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To: pgkdan
This is about trying to convince the NFL owners and Roger Goodell that he’s a changed man and is ready to play

Bingo. While he played for the Giants, Plaxico praised God during interviews, while visiting strip clubs and drinking later in the day. Nothing new here.

11 posted on 06/15/2011 6:32:35 AM PDT by frithguild
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To: JacksonCalhoun
And the sports leagues are increasingly about liberal, PC groupthink.

You got that right! Sports writers are some of the most obnoxiously liberal 'journolists' out there. They wear their PC bias like a badge of honor.

12 posted on 06/15/2011 6:33:22 AM PDT by pgkdan ( Time for a Cain Mutiny!)
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To: rellimpank

My problem with the premise of this article is that Burris is assumed to be a free man who was wronged by the bad laws of NY. This move just shows that his democrat masters have put him back on the plantation and will reward him handsomely for efforts to enslave others.
Yep, the gun laws of NY are unconstitutional, but they are there to insure that there are only subjects not citizens in these Leftard Provinces.


13 posted on 06/15/2011 6:33:49 AM PDT by Steamburg (The contents of your wallet is the only language Politicians understand.)
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To: pgkdan

Wouldn’t he be better served to tour around to schools and tell school kids not to be stupid by carrying an unholstered gun in your pants. you might shoot your leg off.


14 posted on 06/15/2011 6:52:45 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: jagusafr

And this is the great failing of our side: so paranoid about putting together and winning perfect cases, we fail to realize that criminals, bada$$es, and idiots will get to the courts first en masse and acquire rulings which make it ever harder to piece together the perfect case.


15 posted on 06/15/2011 6:53:42 AM PDT by ctdonath2
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To: Mr Ramsbotham

Can they start one with players who have essentially been convicted of “criminally exercising their constitutional rights”?


16 posted on 06/15/2011 7:18:08 AM PDT by WayneS ("I hope you know this will go down on your PERMANENT record...")
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