Eisen Among Those Taking Aim at Gun Violence

December 23, 2012 @ admin → No Comments

Some Hollywood celebrities have banded together to produce a video for demandaplan.org, a group seeking to end gun violence. Or at least diminish it. The video is part of a campaign by Mayors Against Illegal Guns. The group’s web site can be accessed by clicking here. What is notable — from a sports perspective — is that among those participating in the video is Rich Eisen of the NFL Network. Also included in the video is New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony.

If you thought we would run Rich Eisen’s photo rather than one of Beyonce, you obviously are new around here.

Eisen states in the video: “We can do better than this.”

Which brings us to a concept that might not solve the problem of gun violence but certainly couldn’t hurt: Have the NFL, NBA and MLB step forward in the effort to bring some semblance of sanity to gun control. Let a minority of National Rifle Association members cringe at the thought and move on — with or without them.

The Mayors Against Illegal Guns group states things rather clearly:

It’s time. Join more than 800 mayors and 750,000 grassroots supporters to demand that President Obama and Congress step forward with a plan to end gun violence.

Our efforts cannot bring back the 20 innocent children murdered in Newtown, CT — or the 34 people murdered with guns every day in America. But we can prevent future tragedies by passing common sense legislation that will:

* Require a criminal background check for every gun sold in America

* Ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines

* Make gun trafficking a federal crime, including real penalties for “straw purchasers”

* Demand that your members of Congress and the president support these legislative priorities.

Is it asking too much of commissioners Roger Goodell, David Stern and Bud Selig (forget about the NHL and Gary Bettman because they are bordering on the irrelevant these days) to support those concepts?

Is it asking too much of sports to serve as a role model when it actually has the chance to serve as one?

There have been far too many gun incidents involving athletes for anyone to think sports types are innocents in the world of guns. Which would make their arguments in favor of reasonable actions even more credible. Of course, more than athletes and leagues and colleges need to speak out in favor of reasonable actions to make the United States a safer place. But there is nothing wrong with being in the forefront of a movement designed to make for a safer society.

The gun lobby — in the form of the NRA — can talk all it wants about the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms that the framers of the Constituion provided. But, as has been pointed out elsewhere, the First Amendment has limits, and there is no reason the Second Amendment shouldn’t.

Twenty school children slaughtered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., will merely become statistics if no action is taken. They will have died in vain, as people do daily in America. It is time to change. It is past time for moments of silence, which sports teams had last week in the wake of the Dec. 14 murders in Newtown.

It is a time for a call to arms — figuratively speaking. Here’s hoping leagues, teams, players and others will have the motivation to become involved. If they have any questions, they always can contact Rich Eisen — among others — to find out how to they did it. Kudos (and not the edible Kudos of the same name) to all involved.

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Speaking of guns and death (yes, we’re really light-hearted so far today, aren’t we?), former big-league ballplayer Ryan Freel died Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla. He apparently committed suicide by shooting himself with a gun. A former utility player who spent most of the career with the Cincinnati Reds, Freel was 36.

“The Reds family is deeply saddened to hear of the death of Ryan Freel,” the team said in a statement. “His teammates and our fans loved him for how hard he played the game, and he loved giving back to the community. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.”

“Really hurt by his passing,” Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips wrote on his Twitter feed, datdudebp. “You never will be forgotten.”

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There is no simple, painless transition from all of the above to the normal (if that adjective is actually appplicable around here) fare found on this site.

So let’s to provide a little seasonal something, starting with the WWE — which had its 10th annual tribute to the tropps that aired on NBC on Saturday night: