Commentary

NFL Star Gets Two Years… for Shooting Himself

Former New York Giant stand out wide receiver Plaxico Burress pled guilty today to possession of a weapon and will serve two years in prison. The crazy part is that he didn’t try to rob anyone, didn’t wave the gun around, and wasn’t even upset with anyone. The whole incident started last December when the football star shot himself in the leg on accident when the gun went off while in the waistband of his pants.

The problem was that Burress was in a New York City nightclub when the gun went off. So he has the firepower of NYCs incredibly strict gun laws raining down on his head. If he had been convicted at trial of weapons possession and reckless endangerment (the initial charges) he would have faced a minimum sentence of three and a half years.

I understand that the current law is the current law, but it is difficult to process how a man can be sent to prison for shooting himself… for two years no less. And all of this when were in the middle of a recession!