'Bad News' Barnes, No Stranger to Guns, Shocked by Arenas Tale

Marvin "Bad News" Barnes once played for a team he said was nicknamed the "Detroit Hoodlums'' due to Pistons players regularly bringing guns into the locker room.

But that was three decades ago. That's why Barnes, a former NBA forward, was stunned to hear about Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas, who has been suspended indefinitely by the NBA for bringing guns last month into the Wizards' locker room.

"I am really surprised,'' Barnes said in an interview Wednesday with FanHouse. "I didn't know they were still doing that in the NBA. That's why I'm in shock.''

Barnes said it was a common occurrence for Pistons players to bring their guns, which he said were used for protection, into the locker room when he played for them in 1976-77 and during the first part of 1977-78.

"We used to hang our guns up in the locker room,'' said Barnes, who said at least three other Detroit players brought guns to games. "It was common knowledge.''

---

---

Barnes said he regularly would take a .45 caliber pistol and a .38 snub nose revolver to games.

"If the .45 jammed, I would have the .38 as a backup gun,'' Barnes said. "It was an automatic.''

Barnes was asked if he ever pointed a gun at another player. There been reports about guns being drawn in a locker-room dispute between Arenas and teammate Javaris Crittenton, but they have not been confirmed.

"No, we didn't do that,'' said Barnes, saying nobody on the team ever joked around with a gun. "Guys on our team were like a family. We didn't fight each other. ... We would never (point a gun at a teammate). ... If I ever pointed a gun at you, it meant that I was going to shoot you.''

Barnes, who played in the ABA from 1974-76 and in the NBA from 1976-80 and has had numerous brushes with the law ranging from an assault conviction to drug issues to parole violations, said he never has pointed a gun at anybody, let alone shot somebody.

"Our guns were for protection,'' said Barnes, who said players would look at guns in the locker room to get an idea of what others were carrying. "Detroit, after all, was a rough town.''

Barnes said the guns he had were unregistered. He said he didn't know of any other teams that had guns in the locker room and that situation didn't exist after he left Detroit and played in the NBA for Buffalo in 1977-78, Boston in 1978-79 and the San Diego Clippers in 1979-80.
"I stopped carrying a gun after I left Detroit,'' he said. "My cowboy days were over. I had been in prison and, as a (convicted) felon, I couldn't carry a gun. That could have put me back in prison for five to 15 years.''

Barnes, 57, said he was surprised to first read of the Arenas situation because the NBA has come so far since the wild days of the 1970s. He didn't have an opinion on if the suspension of Arenas is the right move.

"What we did was 30 years ago,'' Barnes said. "But this is a different time. So I'm surprised at players still (bringing guns into the locker room).''

Chris Tomasson can be reached at tomasson@fanhouse.com or on Twitter @christomasson