Giants star Plaxico Burress destroyed his reputation after accidentally shooting himself with his unregistered handgun. Photo illustration by National Parody League

Guns have changed our world drastically, for good and bad. So why do so most athletes and movie stars have them? Protection? Style? Looks? Who knows?

One of many notable celebrity firearm incidents was the Plaxico Burress case. On November 28^th, 2008, the Giants wide receiver was shot in a night club – a self-inflicted wound with his own gun. A year earlier, Burress caught the game-winning touchdown in Super Bowl XLII to lift the Giants to their third Super Bowl victory against the heavily favored and then-undefeated New England Patriots.

In August, Burress was interviewed by Jeremy Schaap on ESPN’s E:60, a weekly investigative journalism newsmagazine show, about exactly what occurred on the horrific night of the incident.

Burress entered the night club with teammates Antonio Pierce and Ahmed Bradshaw. Upon entering, they were patted down by security.

“They know I have [the gun]. They pat me down, and they say OK,” Burress said.

Then, Burress went to the bar for about 5 minutes, after which he was headed upstairs to relax and escape from the fans.

“I’m walking up the stairs and I miss a step and so my gun like slides down my pants. So it’s getting ready to hit the ground and I don’t want it to hit the ground, so when it’s sliding down my jeans I go to stop it with my hands, and I don’t think you could do it a million times through your pants, you could stop it from hitting the ground, and my finger hit like, right on the trigger. It was like, what are the odds of that happening? When it happens I don’t even realize that I’m shot and I take 2 or 3 steps and I’m like my pants are like wet and I had on some Chuck Taylors and my shoes are like red. And I look at AP and I’m like ‘Take me to the hospital’.”

Though it was purely an accident, Burress received a two-year jail sentence because the weapon was unregistered.

Fallen Wizards point guard Gilbert Arenas, under intense scrutiny for a string of questionable behavior and gun violations. Why do athletes run into so much trouble with weapons? Photo by Keith Allison - Wikimedia Commons

When the report broke loose about Washington Wizards star point guard Gilbert Arenas pulling a gun on sophomore guard Javaris Crittenton, the sports world was in shock. Arenas claimed that this conflict was a “misguided effort to play a joke.”

Arenas also claimed that NBA commissioner David Stern was “mean” after Stern threw down an indefinite suspension that wasn’t expected until later on in the judicial process. After a string of unethical decisions, such as storing firearms in Verizon Center and pulling outrageous pranks, Stern declared that Arenas is “not currently fit to take the court.”

In another offense,  Arenas wrote a note and stuck it to Crittenton’s locker. The note said “Pick one”; Arenas had placed 3 guns on a chair near Crittenton’s locker. Crittenton didn’t back down as he told Arenas that he had his own as well. The dispute reportedly started on a flight back to Washington from Phoenix on December 19^th over a card game and a gambling debt.

Arenas told the Washington post “That’s not the real story.”

As if that weren’t enough, Arenas didn’t stop there: Before the game in Philadelphia, he made a hand gesture of a gun with his fingers and pointed it at his teammates. They laughed.

Through his attorney, he released a ‘sincere’ apology.

“I feel very badly that my actions have caused the NBA to suspend me, but I understand why the league took this action. I put the NBA in a negative light and let down my teammates and our fans. I am very sorry for doing that.”

“While I never intended any harm or disrespect to the NBA or anyone else, my gun possession at the Verizon Center and my attempts at humor showed terrible judgment,” he added.

“I take full responsibility for my conduct.” Arenas also explained that he stored unloaded weapons in his locker because he wanted them out of his house after the recent birth of his daughter.

This wasn’t the first time that Arenas has been suspended for gun-related issues. In 2004 Arenas missed a season opener because he was unable to maintain proper registration of a hand gun while living in California and when he played for Golden State.

To make the suspension even worse, Stern ensured that Arenas would go unpaid. This means that Arenas will lose around $147,000 for each game that he misses. That’s $147,000 of the $16.2 million that he will earn in the second year of his 6 year, $111 million contract.

Not only did the NBA throw down a suspension, but the Verizon Center reacted by taking down a banner of Arenas that hung above the main entrance. The banner read “Character. Commitment. Connection,” the words emerging from Arenas’ likeness.

This case is under review, and public officials are still questioning players in the locker room that were involved in the incident. For now, the Wizards will have to move forward without Arenas, their leading scorer. In the foreseeable future, there will be no Agent Zero.

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