There’s been a fair amount of hype — thank you, New York Post — surrounding the pre-Christmas incident involving Gilbert Arenas, Javaris Crittendon and a couple of firearms. Let’s cut through the most sensational aspects of the story, and concentrate for a moment on what we know to be true:
- Arenas, by his own admission, was storing weapons in his locker at the Verizon Center.
- The District of Columbia has some of the toughest gun laws in the nation. The maximum sentence for carrying an unlicensed firearm in DC can be as much as five years in prison.
- We don’t know whether or not Arenas' guns were licensed. We do know that he’s had problems maintaining proper gun licenses in the past; he served a one-game suspension for exactly that during his first season with the Wizards.
- The NBA also has a zero-tolerance policy on firearms, written right into the collective bargaining agreement since 2005. Players are strictly forbidden from bringing a gun to any NBA arena, venue or event.
Considering all that… even if the most innocent explanation turns out to be accurate, that Arenas moved the guns out of his house out of concern for his children’s safety, and that the incident with Crittendon was simply a practical joke gone bad… it seems likely that Agent Zero will be hit with a significant suspension.
Read more at NBA.com: Suspension Looms for Arenas.
