# Gilbert Arenas arrested for illegal fireworks **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [June 27, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-arenas-arrested-for-illegal-fireworks/662045 "2013-06-27T17:24:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-arenas-arrested-for-illegal-fireworks/662045/1 "2013-06-27T17:24:26Z")
When I first saw that headline, I kind of thought, “Now they’re just picking on him; lots of people dabble in fireworks this time of year.” Oh no. As it happens, Arenas was [arrested](http://www.wtop.com/411/3372210/Report-Gilbert-Arenas-arrested-with-truck-full-of-illegal-fireworks) with _one hundred pounds_ of fireworks. The LAPD had to call in the bomb squad. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-arenas-arrested-for-illegal-fireworks/662045/2 "2013-06-27T19:40:49Z")
That’s… not actually a lot. Oh, sure, it’s more than you’d expect for your family backyard barbeque. But If you get into rockets and such a hundred pounds is nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Oldeb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ea666f/32.png) [@Oldeb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oldeb)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-arenas-arrested-for-illegal-fireworks/662045/3 "2013-06-27T20:17:47Z")
Yeah, I’m guessing LAPD has some sort of standard policy on when to call the bomb squad and I’m sure California has stricter fireworks laws than my state. A quick Google search show I can get a single box of fireworks, the “Mars Attacks Ultimate Set,” that weighs 30 kilos (about 66 pounds). The article says they removed 20 boxes from the truck. With that many boxes you could probably hit a 100 pounds in sparklers alone without any rockets or fountains. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-arenas-arrested-for-illegal-fireworks/662045/4 "2013-06-28T15:49:45Z")
Hmm. OK, I guess it’s a big party but not stupid big. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-arenas-arrested-for-illegal-fireworks/662045/5 "2013-06-28T23:28:27Z")
Why doesn’t he have a driver’s license and shouldn’t he be smart enough to not speed if he’s driving without one? You can’t fix stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-arenas-arrested-for-illegal-fireworks/662045/6 "2013-06-28T23:35:19Z")
> [@](#): > > In 2010, Arenas was sentenced to probation and 30 days in a halfway house after bringing guns into the Wizards’ locker room at Verizon Center. I think he’s a few sparklers short of a full box, there. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-arenas-arrested-for-illegal-fireworks/662045/7 "2013-06-28T23:40:15Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Why doesn’t he have a driver’s license and shouldn’t he be smart enough to not speed if he’s driving without one? Well, for a man who was storing unregistered handguns in his locker in a city where handguns [del]are[/del] were essentially illegal, then threatened a teammate with them, this sort of thing seems to be right in his wheelhouse. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-arenas-arrested-for-illegal-fireworks/662045/8 "2013-06-29T00:18:05Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Well, for a man who was storing unregistered handguns in his locker in a city where handguns [del]are[/del] were essentially illegal, then threatened a teammate with them, this sort of thing seems to be right in his wheelhouse. He also took a dump in Andrew Blatche’s sneakers. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-arenas-arrested-for-illegal-fireworks/662045/9 "2013-06-29T00:20:50Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > He also took a dump in Andrew Blatche’s sneakers. Well I can’t really blame him for that. I’m fairly certain anyone who follows the Wizards would do the same given the opportunity. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-arenas-arrested-for-illegal-fireworks/662045/10 "2013-06-29T01:47:25Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Well I can’t really blame him for that. I’m fairly certain anyone who follows the Wizards would do the same given the opportunity. When asked about it during a post game interview in Orlando he said “everyone is always talking about that but nobody ever asks what Drew did to deserve it”. Sigh, i really liked the guy and wish he had gotten back in the league. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-arenas-arrested-for-illegal-fireworks/662045/11 "2013-06-29T01:57:50Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Sigh, i really liked the guy and wish he had gotten back in the league. I liked him too. In his prime he was a hell of a basketball player, one of the deadliest shooters in the game. The off the court stuff I think was primarily just massive immaturity, the mostly innocent, childish kind; I honestly don’t think he had it in him to actually hurt anybody. He was just a little boy in a man’s body with $100 million who played a game for a living; he never _had_ to become an adult, so he never did (and apparently still hasn’t). Not that I have much sympathy for the guy. He’s a 30-year-old man; he should fucking know better by now and if he still doesn’t after all he’s been through, he deserves whatever he gets. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-arenas-arrested-for-illegal-fireworks/662045/12 "2013-06-29T04:14:55Z")
> [@Oldeb](#): > > Yeah, I’m guessing LAPD has some sort of standard policy on when to call the bomb squad and I’m sure California has stricter fireworks laws than my state. I’m not sure what California’s statewide fireworks laws are; they’re usually left up to cities and counties. (Marin County, for example, banned pretty much all fireworks, including “safe and sane” ones, after the droughts of the mid-1970s.) A quick Google shows that 26 of the 58 cities in Los Angeles County ban all fireworks that are not “safe and sane” (usually defined as things that do not explode or go into the air). ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-arenas-arrested-for-illegal-fireworks/662045/13 "2013-06-29T06:55:03Z")
My sister’s having another 4th of July display this year, after a few years off. I fully expect a hundred pounds of boom-boom. If I had more money, there’d be 150 lbs. Edit: They’re legal in this state.