Who could be more secure from attack than some hulk who plays professional football? The answer is, of course, a professional football player with a gun.

This is an answer that gets the criminals� friends in the anti-self defense chorus singing the blues.

Speaking of his 19 years in the National Football League in an article in the New York Times of December 26 last year, Lomas Brown complained of having seen guns everywhere - on team flights, in locker rooms, in players� cars, in dormitory rooms. Oh, the thought of it!

Lomas Brown went on to warn that a disagreement on the field could turn into a gun incident. He offered no examples to prove his point, however. Parroting the Sarah Brady playbook of the virtues of defenseless victimhood, Brown said that: �I understand wanting a gun to protect your home and family. But having one in other situations is extremely dangerous. Athletes are very emotional, and just like everyone else, sometimes emotions get the best of us�.If you throw a gun into that mix, and then maybe alcohol, well, that�s not good.�

Again, Brown provided no examples to substantiate his point. Folks like him are not in the habit of messing with facts.

T. J. Slaughter, a linebacker with the Jacksonville Jaguars, was released from the team because the management took the word of two assailants who had threatened Slaughter. They complained that he had pointed a gun at them, but they neglected to mention all the details. The truth is that they had driven up to his car - at 60 miles an hour - and cussed him out.

The Jaguars general manager, Michael Huyghue, authoritatively stated: �I have never heard of a situation where a gun saved a player.�

Well, it took less than a month and we are able to relieve Mr. Huyghue of his ignorance. And for his convenience, he has to look no farther than Tallahassee - just down the road from Jacksonville. Baltimore Ravens cornerback Corey Fuller lives there and drove off a bullet-spraying attack by two thugs only because he had his own gun.

Fuller was threatened outside his home. He fled inside, and a hail of bullets erupted. He returned fire with his own handgun, setting the punks to flight.

Mr. Huyghue, I hope you had a chance to see the January 21 Associated Press story about Corey Fuller. You now have heard of a situation where a gun saved a player.

Hopefully Corey Fuller�s successful defensive use of a handgun will bang some sense into the NFL that, since 1996, has discouraged players from keeping guns at home. Yet the NFL has not offered to provide free bodyguard services for its players. They seem to prefer the Corey Fuller�s of the world to be gunned down.

Surely renegotiation would be more humane than leaving them defenseless to the predator class that is naturally attracted to the (often ostentatious) wealth of the players.

Meanwhile, Slaughter had to forfeit his gun and donate $500 to charity (the Million Mommies?). After all, whoever heard of a player using a gun in self defense?

� 2004 Larry Pratt - All Rights Reserved