Plaxico Burress Shoots Himself in the Thigh
On the bright side, Dallas’ chances are improving in the NFC East.
Super Bowl hero Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself in the right thigh and spent the night in the hospital, another dramatic turn in a tumultuous season in which the star New York Giants receiver has been fined and suspended.
The Giants said the shooting happened Friday night and he was released from the hospital early Saturday. The team did not say which hospital Burress went to or how badly he was injured.
However, a team official told The Associated Press that Burress shot himself in a nightclub. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the team was still trying to sort out all the facts.
I’m sure there’s some kind of joke in all this…..
But seriously, did the guy take any kind of gun safety training before he decided he’d pack? I’m thinking not.
Posted by Steve on November 30, 2008 at 0513 hrs
Burress is expected to be arrested on felony weapons charges in the coming days, while Pierce’s attorney was in frantic discussions with cops last night to stave off criminal charges, police sources said.
NY has mandatory minimum of 3.5 years for concealed weapons.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 30, 2008 at 0845 hrs
He shot himself while unloading it (and drinking wine) in a back room with security guards : http://www.profootballtalk.com/2008/11/29/plaxicos-gun-fired-while-he-was-unloading-it/
Posted by Fuzz on November 30, 2008 at 0923 hrs
NY has mandatory minimum of 3.5 years for concealed weapons.
As much as I disagree with any gun restrictions on otherwise law-abiding citizens, I hope this celebrity-athlete has to suffer without special treatment under the same bullshit law that an ordinary citizen would.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 30, 2008 at 1248 hrs
And Pacman Jones wasn’t there?
Posted by Steve Burri on November 30, 2008 at 1401 hrs
Umnnnhhhh…...
For a gun-carrying dodo, the guy’s a damn good WR.
Posted by dad29 on November 30, 2008 at 1658 hrs
Now why didn’t he do this last year before he ran all over the Packers in the NFC Championship game?
Why do you need to take a gun into a night club? That’s just trouble right there.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 01, 2008 at 0004 hrs
Why do you need to carry a gun into a nightclub? Because all the other ball players and rap stars in the club are carrying one.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 01, 2008 at 1414 hrs
I thought you’d be all over his right to carry. He was fully trained and licensed to carry a concealed weapon in Florida, and he could legally carry in just about any other state thanks to permit reciprocity. And he actually has some reasonable fear for his safety given his noteriety, wealth, and the recent history of NFL ballers meeting up with street criminals. This is your concealed weapon poster boy. Why are you talking smack about him now?
Fact is, this could be any concealed weapon holder in any state. Somehow he has the right to make things more dangerous for everyone around him, just because he feels unsafe. I think that’s BS and people who are afraid to be out in public need to stay inside, not infringe on my safety by running around with dangerous hidden (not to mention ineffective) weapons.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 02, 2008 at 1209 hrs
Perhaps you have the right to stay inside rather than your rights infringed on by dangerous people packing heat? I’m not sure why you would call the weapons ineffective. His side arm clearly was effective enough to send him to the hospital. Obviously, he would be much worse off if he had shot himself with something with a larger caliber and more muzzle velocity, but hey, it’s hard to carry a full rifle around for a night on the town.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 03, 2008 at 0851 hrs
No, I shouldn’t have to be the one who stays inside, because I’m not the one who’s scared. That seems pretty obvious.
As far as the ineffective comment, concealed handguns are not helpful in the vast majority of street crimes. I’ve stayed in some very rough places in my life and I’ve been robbed by someone with a weapon probably a dozen times. Only one of those situations would have benefitted from me having a firearm in my waistband, and that was a kid who was so nervous that he dropped his already barely intimidating box cutter. I would have had the opportunity to pull a piece on that kid, but it would have been completely unecessary because I could handle him with my hands. Every other time I was jacked before I even knew what was going on, and I keep my head on a swivel, so it was really unavoidable. I know it seems like having a gun in your pocket would keep you safe, but life is not a movie.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 03, 2008 at 1025 hrs
I think that’s BS and people who are afraid to be out in public need to stay inside,
What a misguided philosophy. Being of the belief that the streets and public areas of this country belong to the law-abiding and not the criminals, I categorically disappear. When we start ceding area’s of the country and cities to criminals and suggesting people “stay inside” when they don’t feel safe that doesn’t sound at all like freedom to me?? Talk about capitulating to criminals…
I thought you’d be all over his right to carry. He was fully trained and licensed to carry a concealed weapon in Florida, and he could legally carry in just about any other state thanks to permit reciprocity. And he actually has some reasonable fear for his safety given his noteriety, wealth, and the recent history of NFL ballers meeting up with street criminals. This is your concealed weapon poster boy. Why are you talking smack about him now?
I’m not sure who you are directing this at, but a couple of things. First, given the recent RESTRAINING ORDERS filed against him by his wife, I HIGHLY doubt Mr Plaxico could have gotten his expired Florida permit renewed (except for the fact that he’s a celeb, and probably would have gotten special treatment) I have a Florida CC permit and one of the first questions asked on the form (and all fed. gun reg forms) is if you have had any restraining orders/DV issues etc.
In addition, as I said in my original post (#4) My only wish is that Plaxico gets treated JUST like every ordinary citizen and has to suffer the same punishment as I or any other person would have if we did the same thing. When everyone has to suffer under the same bullshit laws, there is a better chance of a push-back and demand for change of them.
When those with money and power (aka celebrities and politicians) don’t have to live by the same laws, they have little motivation to change them. They could care less about the serfs when they get special treatment.
And finally… As for shooting himself in the leg. Perhaps if people didn’t have to go around hiding their guns in the “waistband of their sweatpants” because of bullshit laws against carrying a weapon they could use proper holsters. We’ll never know what Plaxico would have done if the law allowed people to exercise their right to carry. None-the-less, given the unlawful or “negligent” discharge of a firearm in this situation, I have no problem with a law that penalizes anyone who negligently or unlawfully discharges a firearm.
The right to carry does not include the right to fire “anytime you want” and as such, I believe that if NY gun laws were just and allowed people to carry a concealled (or unconcealled) weapon, Plaxico should STILL be punished for the negligence of discharging his firearm, (NOT for carrying it)
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 03, 2008 at 1030 hrs
As far as the ineffective comment, concealed handguns are not helpful in the vast majority of street crimes.
Prove it! Just saying it doesn’t make it so Jason.
I’ve stayed in some very rough places in my life and I’ve been robbed by someone with a weapon probably a dozen times.
You’ve been robbed by someone with a weapon “a dozen times” and you claim people have no reason to be fearful out in public? Come on Jason… You’re arguements have gone from outlandish to preposterous.
I know it seems like having a gun in your pocket would keep you safe, but life is not a movie.
I’m sorry Jason… You’re anecdotes don’t amount to reality either.
The Department of Justice did a study which estimates defensive gun use at 1.5 MILLION times a year.
Don’t take my word for it Jason. Read for yourself
http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles/165476.pdf
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 03, 2008 at 1038 hrs
Yeah, I’ve been robbed a lot, and I’m still not scared enough to impose on other people and make them less safe. Imagine that. I don’t enjoy being robbed, but I don’t think the proper solution to street crime is to introduce more risk to the situation (and introducing a gun is increasing risk, as any responsible gun owner knows, even if the increase is only slight).
As for reality, I have anecdotal life experience, you have a DOJ report based on anecdotal life experience. You can choose to trust my judgment, or you can trust the judgment of the woman who says she used her gun defensively 52 times in 1994 (bottom of page 8), that’s your call.
Either way, page 9, column 2 of your DOJ report shreds the idea that these guns are being used defensively in street crime situations, while at the same time questioning the integrity of the entire study. Lumping all defensive gun use together when we’re talking exclusively about concealed weapons and street crime is misleading at best. I have no problem with guns in the home, and I know they can be useful tools for self-defense, as that study reflects. But that’s because the circumstances surrounding a home intruder are very different than the cicrumstances surrounding a kid who pops out of the bushes on a dark street. A pistol in your nightstand is helpful when you hear the front window break. A pistol in your pocket is useless when you feel a knife shoved in your back.
So I stand by my points. Plax was trained and licensed to carry a concealed weapon and he had an accidental discharge anyway. That accidental discharge could have seriously injured or killed him or anyone around him. He put everyone around him at risk because he personally felt unsafe. And the dangerous implement he used to alieviate his insecurity was, in my experience, not an effective way to combat what he fears to begin with. So I’m against concealed weapons, and I’m pretty comfortable with my position.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 03, 2008 at 1249 hrs
A pistol in your pocket is useless when you feel a knife shoved in your back.
And a pistol in your nightstand is equally useless when you are away from your home.
I’ve learned in these gun debates that you won’t change the mind of a person who is not interested in having his mind changed. Thats the case almost always with anti-gun folks. Emotion based positions rarely succomb to logic-based arguements.
So as I always will, I’ll preface the following comments with this: The following are not intended to change your mind Jason, but rather to offer fact-based information to anyone who might wander through this thread that has an open mind with regard to guns and concealled carry.
It would be foolish for me or anyone to say that a gun is going to save a person in every situation.
It would be equally foolish for anyone to say it won’t help in many situations, or would have helped many people in many situation.
For every instance like this that comes along once in a blue moon that makes the front page where a person accidentally discharging a firearm, there are so many stories of violent crime against people that one can easily pick up the newspaper DAILY and read a story where CERTAINLY a gun could have been used very effectively in defense.
Given that unlike Wisconsin, almost every other state allows concealled carry and while I’ll agree that the mere presence of a gun introduces the potential risk of accidental discharge etc, the reality is that that potential risk has not in ANY circumstances proven to be statistically significant. In fact, the risk is so slight its virtually non-existent.
I know in wisconsin people don’t know a lot about concealled carry as our state bans it, as does illinois, but in the 48 states that allow concealled carry in some form 39 of those states have “must issue” law where anyone who passes the requirments must be issued a permit, the data strongly supports the truth that guns in the hands of law abiding citizens in the form of conceal and carry is EXCEPTIONALLY safe and exceptionally effective as a defense of, and a deterent to crime.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 03, 2008 at 1345 hrs
Funny, I was thinking the same thing about the futility of changing people’s minds on this issue when I posted above.
As for emotion versus logic, I think you’re giving yourself too much credit. Fear is the only emotion involved in this debate, and the extreme fear of criminals that you invoke is far more emotional than the slight fear of occasional, possible accidents that I brought to the table. And as for logic, there’s no reliable data showing concealed weapons are frequently and effective used for self-defense against street crime. I’m sure it’s happened, but not enough to be statistically significant. There’s also no rivers of blood flowing through the streets in states that have concealed weapon permits, so the increase in risk is also very slight.
I’m just weighing the slight increase in personal safety against the slight increase in risk to the community, and I’m more comfortable burdening the person who is afraid to walk around without a gun than I am everybody else. But I’m not a gun enthusiast (though I do think they’re cool), and you are, so I can see how you would assign the weights a little differently. Reasonable minds can differ on the issue based on their personal interests and experiences. I’ve also spent many years in neighborhoods where gun violence is a severe and immediate problem that comes up almost every night. I don’t know you, but I’m guessing you haven’t. That colors our perceptions of the situation as well.
You do bring up a point I meant to address earlier. I don’t have a problem with “for cause” concealed weapon permits for people who can identify a specific need to carry a concealed weapon as part of their profession, or in rare cases, because of their specific circumstances. I continue to have a problem with “shall issue” permits for every Joe Plaxico that wanders in off the street with a relatively clean criminal record and mental health history.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 03, 2008 at 1703 hrs
And as for logic, there’s no reliable data showing concealed weapons are frequently and effective used for self-defense against street crime.
http://www.gunfacts.info/pdfs/gun-facts/5.0/GunFacts5-0-screen.pdf
Page 27
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 03, 2008 at 2150 hrs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpgL5kuBpMA
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 05, 2008 at 2240 hrs
(applause) Bravo!!!! Very well done!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 06, 2008 at 0104 hrs
One of the things I don’t understand is how people who handle weapons are not careful and shoot themselves. I guess overconfidence is the problem.
Posted by Hayabusa Fairings on December 11, 2008 at 1219 hrs
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