A surprising op-ed

If you hadn’t yet heard, Marvin Harrison, the Indianapolis Colts’ marquee wide-receiver was somehow involved in a shooting in Philadelphia.  To call the details “sketchy” would be to give them a lot more credit than they’re due, but the few facts that are available is that a person was shot through the hand, a child was cut by shattered glass, Marvin Harrison has a valid Indiana carry permit, and that’s about it.

That’s why I’m so surprised to see this editorial in the Indy Star (a paper I don’t normally read).  Normally, whenever a professional athlete is involved in a shooting, you get every sports columnist from hell to breakfast taking that opportunity to litter up the sports page with how they feel about gun control, which they’re usually all in favor of.  That’s why Bob Kravitz’s column was such a breath of fresh air to me.  When a writer says something like this quote, “I’m not a gun guy. Never owned one. Never shot one”, I usually brace for the inevitable “so why does anyone need guns”.  But this time I got something different.

If an athlete, or anyone else, wants to own a gun, that’s their right. Whatever you think of the gun-control laws in this country, bottom line, that’s their right.

He even mentions a couple of other places in the article that it doesn’t matter that Marvin owned a gun, because he has a right to do so.  Honestly, I was pretty much floored by this column, because I agree with it 100%, and that almost never happens.  Kudos to Bob Kravitz for not following the standard anti-gun handbook.

2 Comments

  1. You’re right. Well balanced column. I don’t read the Star much anymore but Kravitz always was pretty good.
    I just sent him an email offering to give him an opportunity to rectify his – “I’m not a gun guy. Never owned one. Never shot one” – deficiency. Doubt he’ll take me up on it, but it would be nice to help the guy out and gain a new fan of the shooting sports.

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