Arenas Case Puts Spotlight on NBA's Gun Culture

(Jan. 4) -- For the NBA, the real question isn't what to do about Gilbert Arenas. It's whether commissioner David Stern will seize the opportunity to stamp out the larger gun culture that has long been part of the league.

Arenas, an eccentric, crowd-pleasing guard, is at the center of an investigation stemming from reports that he drew a gun in the Washington Wizards' locker room during an argument with a teammate last month. But more troublesome, as The New York Times has noted, is that it was only the latest in a line of gun-related incidents around the NBA.

In 2003, Arenas pleaded no contest to misdemeanor weapons and vehicle charges after he was found carrying a .40-caliber handgun and driving without a license during a traffic stop in California. A year earlier, the Golden State Warriors' Chris Mills was accused of brandishing a gun on the Portland Trail Blazers' team bus after arguing with the Blazers' Bonzi Wells. The Indiana Pacers' Stephen Jackson, who was suspended for 30 games for his role in the Pacers-Detroit Pistons brawl, fired five shots in the parking lot outside an Indianapolis club in 2006 and was charged with a felony count of criminal recklessness. That same year, Trail Blazers guard Sebastian Telfair was fined and suspended for two games after a loaded handgun was found in his luggage aboard the team's plane. And just before this season began, police found Delonte West of the Cleveland Cavaliers with two loaded handguns, a shotgun and a knife during a traffic stop. Meanwhile, a second reckless manslaughter trial recently was delayed for former New Jersey Nets' star Jayson Williams, who is accused of shooting and killing his chauffeur in 2002.

According to Arenas' own account on Twitter, he was just horsing around and didn't threaten fellow Wizard Javaris Crittenton, with whom he was reportedly arguing over a gambling debt. However, Arenas has admitted to bringing three unloaded weapons to the Wizards' Verizon Center arena, in violation of league rules. The NBA has yet to release an official statement concerning the incident, indicating that it's awaiting city and federal investigations into the matter.

No one is saying that NBA players, like any Americans, should not be entitled to own guns, provided they have the necessary permits and comply with relevant laws. But that doesn't appear to be the case in the Arenas affair, and so all eyes remain on NBA President David Stern, who many are urging to send a no-tolerance message on the league's own gun rules by harshly disciplining Arenas.

"If for some indeterminate reason, Arenas doesn't wind up doing hard time for bringing three guns to the work place, thereby violating District of Columbia laws, the Collective Bargaining Agreement and common sense, this wangster still must be ejected from David Stern's game ... permanently," writes Peter Vecsey, sports columnist for the New York Post.

Not to be outdone, rival tabloid The New York Daily News chimes in: "Throw Arenas out. Throw Crittenton out. Consider what happened down in D.C. a warning to all players. Harsh as it is, it's the only way to go, rather than to risk having players one day actually exchanging gunfire."

Hyperbolic though that may sound, the numbers bear out such a possibility: About 75 percent of NBA players own guns, Nets guard Devin Harris estimates. Many feel they need the protection given their wealth and public visibility. In 2007, Miami Heat forward Antoine Walker was robbed at gunpoint in his Chicago home. Seven years earlier, he and a teammate were robbed as they sat in a vehicle outside a restaurant.

The last word Stern had on his league's pistol-packing ways was in 2006, when he called the issue of players carrying guns an "alarming subject." (This came three weeks after Stephen Jackson fired shots outside the nightclub.) It's a good bet he'll have much more to say on the subject soon. And depending on the fate he determines for Arenas, other NBA players may finally take heed.