With the rash of public gun related incidents involving athletes including the Plaxico Burress debacle and the robbery of his Giants teammate Steve Smith a week prior, Blackwater Worldwide is offering to help teach athletes how to protect themselves. Best known for protecting American diplomats in Iraq, the company is opening up training workshops to professional athletes who are interested in learning how to fire a gun. I hope this becomes a mandatory part of Burress’s sentence. That and barring him from wearing sweatpants to a club, although I think Joan Rivers would have to be the judge for that to happen.
So far, no athletes have signed up for the training session which is scheduled for April although the company only began advertising this week.
"They're high-profile personnel, and high-profile people need to be able to protect themselves and their families," said Jim Sierawski, Blackwater's vice president of training. "A lot of times gun handling and gun safety is a big part of that protection package."
The move towards sports has come on the heels of an announcement by the defense department that they would not renew their contract with Blackwater. Nonetheless, the NFL is not thrilled the company has shifted focus from American diplomats to pro athletes.
"Our strong recommendation to players is that they should not own guns and our policy prohibits all NFL employees from possessing guns or other weapons on NFL facilities or while on NFL business," said league spokesman Brian McCarthy on Thursday.
Lame, yeah it would be nice for your players to stop carrying illegal concealed weapons to public places. But if they are going to have guns, they might as well know how to use them properly so they don’t shoot themselves in the thigh. During rookie camp, you must offer a course in things players should avoid, like DUIs, drug trafficking and strip clubs, why not offer an optional day at the shooting range as well?
(source)
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