AJC > Sports > Blog > Archives > 2008 > April > 01
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Athletes, guns do not mix
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Okay. I’m going to say this one last time. Apparently it hasn’t gotten through to enough people.
If you are a college athlete and you want to remain a college athlete, do not do the following things while you are on a college campus:
DO NOT OWN A GUN.
DO NOT PICK UP A GUN.
DO NOT ALLOW A GUN TO BE IN YOUR CAR, ROOM, ETC.
DO NOT FIRE A GUN.
Two Mississippi State football players, Quinton Wesley and Mike Brown, both from the Atlanta area, were arrested last Friday. According to various media reports Wesley was charged with shooting at a car outside of a dormitory. Brown was charged with possession of a gun on a school campus. Both charges are felonies. They have been dismissed from school, pending appeal.
The hands of football coach Sylvester Croom are tied. If you’re not in school, you’re not on the football team. He can’t help them.
Aside from this incident, these may be two great kids. Croom has worked very hard to since the got to Mississippi State to produce good citizens and well as good football players. There is no coach in college football with more personal integrity than Sylvester Croom. Maybe there are circumstances that will clear them on appeal and allow them to get back in school.
But here are the questions I would ask the two young men if I could:
Did you not hear about Virginia Tech?
Did you not hear about Northern Illinois?
You can argue the second amendment until you’re blue in the face, but the fact is there is going to be a zero tolerance for handguns on campus in the United States of America. Period. If you’re a student, you have to know that. If you’re a college football player, you have to be even smarter because if you get caught, there are going to be bad headlines.
There is no sense debating any of this, but feel free to do so if you’d like. But here is the reality. Law enforcement has its marching orders. And every time somebody gets caught with a gun on campus and tries to mount a defense, prosecutors are going to point to 32 dead bodies in Blacksburg, Va.
That’s where the debate ends.
You gotta know that.
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