Two basketball players seek gun permits, get castigated by the press for it.

[Airman_Doors_USAF]

Granted, it’s a mild castigation and subtle at that, but nonetheless…

So here’s the article, and in it you can see some of the subtleties that I am referring to. A few choice quotes:

Hodge did not deny applying for the permit but refused to answer questions about why he wanted to carry a gun.

Now, maybe it’s just me, but there are two perfectly good responses to that. The first one is “none of your business”. The second one: “I don’t owe you any justification because I don’t have to demonstrate need to you”. And it’s true. If the state demands justification, you give it to them. You owe nobody else any sort of justification.

Next:

Forward Reggie Evans, who applied for a gun permit at the same time as Hodge, was equally reluctant to talk about his desire to legally carry a gun.

As he should be. To repeat what I said above: it is nobody’s business but the state and the person seeking the license.

He said that neither player specified why he wanted a permit to carry a gun.

This is the third time the point was made that an explanation was not forthcoming. I find it a source of endless fascination that the media harps on this point so often. Having been involved in discussions of this sort numerous times, both in real life and on the SDMB, this constant harping on “why do you want/need a gun” is a dead end street. The people who ask are simply looking to label you as a paranoiac or a gun-toting lunatic looking to blow someone out of his shoes at the slightest provocation. There is no right answer.

For that matter, given that who has a permit or applies for one is NOT a matter of public record, how did anyone find out? The whole point of a CCW permit is that you’re not supposed to know. Someone gave these guys up, and the media descended on them like a pack of wolves.

Last:

The application used by the The County Sheriffs of Colorado for a concealed weapons permit does not require Colorado residents to state their reasons for wanting to carry a gun.

If the state doesn’t demand a reason, who are you to ask, Mr. Reporter Dude?

If someone wants to get a permit, they pass the check, and they are legally entitled to it, then that’s all that needs to be said. Unless, of course, someone finds out and braces you to demonstrate “need”.

There is an obvious, tangible anti-gun theme throughout the whole article. Even as they don’t come out and say so, it’s obvious. The mere fact that it made the news is enough evidence. Why would anyone care about a private matter, a decision made by people who are ostensibly private citizens who are exercising their rights? Why is there such nosiness about it?

It’s annoying, it’s unprofessional, and it’s irresponsible journalism, it’s an invasion of privacy, and it’s almost certainly derived from an illegal source. I am willing to be disabused of that notion if someone can tell me that CCW permits are in fact a matter of public record in Colorado, but until then this invasion of privacy sticks in my craw. How can the same newsmedia that beats the President to death for such invasions regularly ignore so blithely the fact that they are complicit in violating the privacy of others?

[treis]

I don’t really see the problem here. It’s the reporter’s job to cover the goings on of a team. Now I don’t think these two applying for permits is anything more than a small blip on the radar, but articles have to be about something. As for the three denials, again the article has to be about something. Plus, it’s not like they are harping on their refusal to talk. Each denial was made by a separate person already mentioned in the article.

Essentially this article is a nice little way to get a bit of publicity. People like you will overreact, get into a tizzy, and post it on a message board. Now the Rockey Mountain News is going to get 100 more hits. I’m sure on another board someone from the anti-gun side is overreacting like you are. They will get more hits from that, and suddenly a ton of people that couldn’t care less about the Nuggets are visiting their site.

[Q.E.D]

@Airman Doors

I am willing to be disabused of that notion if someone can tell me that CCW permits are in fact a matter of public record in Colorado…

Ok, then:
[

The controversy sparked debate in the Colorado legislature earlier this year, ending with passage of a bill that would have permanently sealed all information about people who have obtained permits to carry concealed weapons.

Gov. Bill Owens vetoed the measure, citing the state’s history of “open government.”

On the heels of that decision, the Denver Rocky Mountain News set out to answer this question: Are concealed-weapons permits public records?

The answer, the News found, depends on who is asked.

The News sent written requests to all 62 Colorado sheriffs and to 54 police chiefs in cities with populations of 5,000 or more. In Denver, the Police Department provides law enforcement and the Sheriff’s Department operates the city’s jails.

The newspaper sought the names, addresses, dates of birth and occupations of people who have obtained concealed-weapons permits.

Only 14 police chiefs contacted by the News have issued permits that are active. And 12 of them made their lists public.

](http://rockymountainnews.com/news/1119guns2.shtml)
It’s at the discretion of law enforcement officials whether to make the information publicly available. As far as I can tell, the current law allows this provided that the CCW permit carriers are notified ten days in advance, so that they may request not to be included in the list. So…it depends. Not very satisfactory as an answer, I know, but there it is.

[Airman_Doors_USAF]

Well, isn’t that just a bunch of horseshit. That kind of misses the entire point, wouldn’t you say? It’s like a Megan’s Law registry for permit holders. It’s ridiculous.

[Little_Nemo]

I don’t see this as being a gun control issue. I think the reporters were trying to tie the purchases in with Darrent Williams’ death. If some players had been signing up for flight lessons after Cory Lidle’s death, they would have been asked the same kind of questions.

[Bryan_Ekers]

@Airman Doors

This is the third time the point was made that an explanation was not forthcoming.

Well, they had to pad out a nothing story somehow.

[Bobotheoptimist]

Idiot newsdrones. Observe -

Last April, a gunman fired at Hodge as he was driving on I-76, spraying his car with bullets. The point guard had left a nightclub a few minutes earlier. Five bullets hit him. No arrests have been made.

Someone shot him, hit him 5 times, and is still running around free. What kind of idiot would question his desire to get a permit? What is “a journalist” Alex?
Of course, he needs to avoid nightclubs if he wants to carry, but I believe the proper response to “Why do you want to carry a gun?” is “Why don’t you?”

The debate over keeping CCW holders info private was, as Airman Doors suggested, a bunch of horseshit. The anti-gun side, I seem to remember, wanted to keep the info public to try to scare people away from getting a permit.

[Lissa]

@Bobotheoptimist

Idiot newsdrones. Observe - Someone shot him, hit him 5 times, and is still running around free. What kind of idiot would question his desire to get a permit? What is “a journalist” Alex?
Of course, he needs to avoid nightclubs if he wants to carry, but I believe the proper response to “Why do you want to carry a gun?” is “Why don’t you?”

The debate over keeping CCW holders info private was, as Airman Doors suggested, a bunch of horseshit. The anti-gun side, I seem to remember, wanted to keep the info public to try to scare people away from getting a permit.

Ahh, so it appears the press was hoping he would say something like, “I am scared and I want to smoke the next person who shoots at me.” Since they could not get him to say it, implying it with an article about nothing sounds about the same.

I guess the only response that fits is… meh.

[Cheesesteak]

They’re public figures. This is one of the downsides of choosing a career in the public eye, reporters ask you questions about your personal business. The upside is making tens of millions of dollars for throwing a ball through a hoop.

If they want to get their CCW without a reporter asking about it, they should feel free to switch careers and start bagging groceries at Safeway, they can then have all the privacy they can stomach.

[Revenant_Threshold]

What Cheesesteak said. I don’t think it’s fair to assume the only reason they’re being interrogated by the press is because they want a gun (though, granted, that’s likely to be part of the reason). They’re public figures. Celebrities. I’m sure they get asked equally if not more personal questions about their love lives or their family, and I think you’d find such subtleties in articles about that, too.

[saoirse]

@Cheesesteak

If they want to get their CCW without a reporter asking about it, they should feel free to switch careers and start bagging groceries at Safeway, they can then have all the privacy they can stomach.

Yes they should expect media scrutiny. But that does not excuse the crap the paper put out. Not answering a personal question is not usually described as being “reluctant to talk about” a personal issue. Do these guys write the colorful freaking Star? The best you can say about it is that it is terrible reporting. Isn’t there an Outdoors columnist around the newsroom who could slap the author around a little?

[Frank]

Brian Maas covers everything in a subtly snide manner. (Sometimes not so subtle.) Occasionally he hits paydirt, but most of his stories are not enhanced by his sneering. This was one that was not enhanced.

[mhendo]

@Cheesesteak

They’re public figures. This is one of the downsides of choosing a career in the public eye, reporters ask you questions about your personal business. The upside is making tens of millions of dollars for throwing a ball through a hoop.

If they want to get their CCW without a reporter asking about it, they should feel free to switch careers and start bagging groceries at Safeway, they can then have all the privacy they can stomach.

Yep, nailed it in one.

While there might be something of an anti-gun tenor to the story, as the OP claims (although i’m not completely convinced), this struck me as nothing more and nothing less than another story about famous sports stars.

Doors, on any other day your thread title could just as easily have read “Basketball players commits adultery, gets castigated by press for it,” or “Basketball player busted for DUI, gets castigated by press for it.” Hell, on a slow news day you could probably write “Basketball player walks down street, gets castigated by press for it.”

For better or worse, the rich and famous end up in the news for reasons that would be ignored if they were your Average Joe.

Let me offer you another scenario, and see how you take to it.

Every baseball season, when i read stories about baseball players in magazines and on the internet, i read about players who own guns and who love to shoot at the range or to hunt. This is mentioned in a pretty matter-of-fact manner, as just another part of their lives. One thing all these stories have in common is that, as far as i can remember, they were all about corn-fed midwestern white boys.

Now, two black basketball players want to go out and get guns, and it’s front page news.

Similarly, when two guys in a hockey match start beating on each other—as happens quite regularly—the media ignores it or laughs it off as part of the game. When basketball players do the same thing, as happened in the Knicks game a few weeks ago, the media sees it at some sort of crisis that needs to be addressed before it destroys basketball.

[Lord_Ashtar]

@mhendo

Doors, on any other day your thread title could just as easily have read “Basketball players commits adultery, gets castigated by press for it,” or “Basketball player busted for DUI, gets castigated by press for it.” Hell, on a slow news day you could probably write “Basketball player walks down street, gets castigated by press for it.”

The only difference is that adultery = cheating on your spouse and a DUI is illegal. Nobody should be “castigated” for doing something that’s perfectly legal.*

*I know adultery is legal, so please leave that nit be and don’t pick at it.

[Gangster_Octopus]

I heard they wanted to buy cigarettes, too, but offered no explanation why.

[Lamar_Mundane]

Athlete in Denver gets murdered by gun, reporter asks athletes in Denver about guns - this is “castigated”?

Seems like somebody has an agenda and is looking for stories to get offended about.

You’re on the east coast and are complaining about a one column article in a Denver paper. Let me guess - this is on some gun nut website or email list, isn’t it?

[John_Mace]

Mhendo, you had me until this:

@mhendo

YSimilarly, when two guys in a hockey match start beating on each other—as happens quite regularly—the media ignores it or laughs it off as part of the game. When basketball players do the same thing, as happened in the Knicks game a few weeks ago, the media sees it at some sort of crisis that needs to be addressed before it destroys basketball.

It is part of the game.

Fighting, to an extent, is allowed in a hockey game. The media would be just as upset about it as they do wrt basketball if the players took their fight into the stands, or started beating each other over their heads with their hockey sticks.

IOW, bad analogy. Hockey = contact sport that allows some fighting. Basketball = not a contact sport.

[Frank]

@Lamar Mundane

Athlete in Denver gets murdered by gun, reporter asks athletes in Denver about guns - this is “castigated”?

I saw the report on channel 4, and Maas was definitely being an asshole. He tried to make it seem that their refusal to talk about it was a major personal failing.

“He STILL wouldn’t answer!” type of thing.

I think he was hoping for an “athletes living in fear” story, and the athletes wouldn’t give it to him, so he tried to make them look bad. Fuck him; he’s a jerk.

[D_Odds]

Technically, basketball is a contact sport (so is baseball). However, contact is usually (and supposed to be) incidental, as opposed to football and hockey where it is by design.

Hockey is the only one which actually condones fights (well, outside of boxing and MMA, that is). They could get rid of the fights rather easily, but they don’t, and many see it as part of the charm of hockey (and this is spoken as a long-time hockey fan).

[Lamar_Mundane]

@Frank

I saw the report on channel 4, and Maas was definitely being an asshole. He tried to make it seem that their refusal to talk about it was a major personal failing.

“He STILL wouldn’t answer!” type of thing.

I think he was hoping for an “athletes living in fear” story, and the athletes wouldn’t give it to him, so he tried to make them look bad. Fuck him; he’s a jerk.

I didn’t see the story, I was just going by the article.