Happy To See Him Go

It's not a good day when an idiot's idiocy finally catches up to him, but from a football-only perspective, I'm glad to see Plaxico on his way out of the division.

The last couple years it's seemed like every single malcontent or fourth-chancer ended up on one of the Eagles' main rivals.  Tank Johnson.  Pacman Jones.  DeAngelo Hall.  T------ F------ O----.  I'm glad -- again, from a football perspective -- that one of these idiots is finally going the other direction.

Of course Dallas could still sign him in the offseason.

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From a non-football perspective, I'm getting a weird vibe about this whole thing.  On the one hand, Burress is clearly someone who's made enough bad choices that it's no surprise one finally caught up to him.  In that regard, it's very fortunate that the person he ended up shooting with his unlicensed (in New York) handgun was himself.

On the other hand, it gives me the heebie-jeebies when those in positions of great authority start talking like this.  I mean, he didn't shoot a kid.  And he didn't shoot a cop.  There's a certain extent to which he's already gotten what he deserved for being such a numbskull.

I back the blue as much as the green, but if this already looks like a pending case of overreach to me, I'm guessing it's going to look a lot worse to a lot of other people.

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Yes, I realize I've opened the door to a non-sports discussion here.  Keep it clean in the comments, but more leeway than usual.

Comments

[Eagles Fan in San Fran]

You can argue all day about the specific law itself, but, bottom-line:
-- The law is the law.
-- Ignorance of the law is no defense.

It'll be interesting to hear his "explanation" - maybe one of his posse will try to take the fall for this (how much does doing time in prison cost nowadays - guess we should ask Greg Anderson/Barry Bonds that one).

[Sundar]

The fact that his wife is a lawyer and STILL didn't have a permit. The fact that he couldn't set his glass of wine down to unload the gun. The fact that he didn't have the safety on....ummm and lets not forget the two times he spiked the ball in the middle of the field without ever being tackled. Dude needs to be taught a lesson and I hate the police.

[since1961]

As much as PFT's guy annoys me, he's got a good technical discussion on the law in NY State, and the implications to Burress (and his defense). Also, he states that Burress had a permit in Florida, but let it lapse, recently if his facts are right. So it probably comes down to, if a jury thinks being suspended for the season, losing the $$, probably being cut, and (heh) being shot, is enough, or if he needs to do 3 1/2 years. No matter what the prosecutors and Bloomberg say, I'm guessing they'll say "no mas".

[since1961]

PS HAPPY to see him go!

[BFH]

Bloomberg sort of left no doubt that Plaxico's fame was going to hurt rather than help him here.

On the one hand, he's an undeniable idiot. As another commenter said, with his wife as a lawyer, there is no player in the NFL who should be more capable of jumping through the legal hoops to get a carry/conceal permit than him.

I understand the need for NFL players to protect themselves. I can think of five incidents in the last 12 months off the top of my head, I wonder how many more have gone unreported.

But the particular details of Plaxico's story leave you no room to feel bad for him.

Anyone see The Daily Show piece on Burress on Monday night? It was amazing.

[Andrew B]

Its a crime that Burress is facing liability for jail, loss of earnings, and a crash and burn end to his career for doing nothing more than what we are all entitled to do by the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution - own and carry a firearm for personal protection, especially from the very sort of overreaching public servants who are about to persecute Burress for exercising his God-given liberties.

"The right to keep AND BEAR arms shall not be infringed"

How much more clearly can it be said?

All that being said, what's about to happen to him couldn't have happened to a better guy ... well ... unless it had happened to Brandon Jacobs.

[Derek]

Interesting coda to this story:

* New York Giants second-year receiver Steve Smith was robbed at gunpoint in the early hours of Nov. 25 after arriving home, according to Clifton, N.J., police.

Smith had just returned to his townhouse in a chauffer-driven car when he was approached from behind by a man who held a gun to Smith's head, Clifton police Capt. Robert Rowan said.

Rowan said the man, who is still being sought, took jewelry, money and a cell phone.

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/20081203_League_suspends_six_players_for_violating_anti-doping_policy.html

[Zee]

Andrew B - Time, place and manner restrictions, as well as reasonable regulation of several rights are perectly Constitutional---so long as there is a demonstrable governmental interest in doing so. You may not like it, but thats the law and its clear, black-letter law. There is no controversy about it whatsoever. The problem with many Americans is that we take our rights for granted to the point that we think we can do whatever we want, whenever we want, however we want, and then claim that its our constitutional right to do so. Thats not the case.

[Andrew B]

Zee:

The British had a "governmental interest" and the color of the law to back their misadventure against the people of Concord, MA. Look where that got them.

Our country was founded upon rebellion started over disarming the populace. Now we sit idly by after already being disarmed in some places and argue that there is nothign wrong with letting our public servants lord it over us in the matter of weaponry.

In NYC, its now illegal to "BEAR ARMS" in public, despite the guarantees of the 2nd Amendment, unless you have special government permission which is difficult to obtain and frequently denied.

This is like forbidding the publishing of a newspaper unless the publisher obtains special permission, or forbidding people from going to Church without a permit from the government to assemble as a crowd.

Its totally outrageous, but we've been brainwashed into thinking there is nothing wrong with it when it comes to personal defense and weapons.

[Eric]

Andrew, the great thing about the Constitution is that it is written, in many cases, so vaguely that it is so widely interpreted from time to time that it is a truly continually evolving document.

What people always seem to not mention is the beginning of the 2nd amendment. Where it mentions militias. I'm a gun owner and a hunter, but also a historian, and I sometimes feel this whole notion of everyone being able to carry firearms without regulations or registrations is crazy.

But I obviously understand the side of the very pro-gun people in that once the restrictions start that they can snowball to the point where no one has guns.

But, again, this all comes down to rights of the populace compared to your individual rights, and it is the government's sole reason for being to protect the public from the individual. And vice versa. And, remember, your rights end where mine begin.