NFL faces huge challenge tackling gun violence

                    

	The scene of Darrent Williams' murder reflects the wealth and status that make athletes targets and compel many to carry guns for protection. AP
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In the wake of Darrent Williams' murder -- only the latest and most tragic instance of late-night violence and gunplay involving a well-known athlete -- I was struck by something NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said: "We've really got to get a handle on why there's such a proliferation of gun violence around our players.''

As much as I applaud the desire of Goodell and NBA commissioner David Stern to stem the tide of mayhem in their respective leagues, I think the answer is pretty clear. It goes beyond the NFL, NBA or NCAA, the street culture in which many athletes grow up, and even the common locker-room pressure to prove your manhood in the face of a challenge, on the field or off.

America is a gun-and-violence-happy culture.

A goodly number of Americans treasure their right to bear arms -- a big reason why the National Rifle Association has such tremendous political clout. Many folks see carrying a weapon as a solution to the threat of crime -- Greenleaf, Idaho, sought an ordinance recommending, but not requiring, all household heads to own a gun and know how to use it. Yes, there are strict gun-control laws on the books in many states, but a weapon still isn't all that hard to come by and it's much easier to put into play.

It's no small thing that, laws and rights of gun ownership aside, we as a culture view violence as a form of entertainment -- as movies, TV shows and video games attest. We don't flinch from using our knuckles to make a point and we pride ourselves on being a nation that builds bigger, better and smarter weaponry that we don't mind using when given the chance. Outlaw guns and we'll resort to knives.

The ready availability of guns makes it all the more likely that athletes -- their wealth widely known and often flaunted -- and their friends are going to pack heat for protection, and that some punk will be packing, too, when he decides to go after a slice of that wealth or simply to establish the size of his cohones during a nightclub beef.

Athletes are common targets in any sports-crazed culture such as our own, as much objects of scorn and loud condemnation from fans and media for their failures as they are the recipients of cheers and honors. After all, we have the right to make our feelings known, don't we? But as Billy Martin once said in the aftermath of yet another watering hole donnybrook, "Kooks seek me out."  Lord knows, he wasn't the only sports figure to attract unwanted attention or respond to it forcefully. It's all a flammable mix.

Tank Johnson, Stephen Jackson, Chris Henry, Steve Foley, Jason Williams of the Nets, Ray Lewis . . . the list of ugly headlines about shootings, altercations, violent mishaps and weapons arrests is deep and long. It will surely continue to grow as long as we accept violence while testosterone, money and weaponry mingle, especially late into the night with alcohol and who-knows-what-else loosening the lugnuts of reason and civility. How often do you hear about athletes being hauled in for jumping ugly with, and on, cops? Too often.

It will be great if Goodell and Stern figure out a way to use the NFL's and NBA's enormous cultural influence to affect some kind of real, lasting change away from the impulse to carry guns and the resort-to-violence mentality as a means of settling disputes. Changing a dress code and holding gun-awareness seminars may be a start, but I won't hold my breath. The task is too gargantuan, too deeply rooted in our culture and our very nature. Sadly, many human beings, not just athletes, embrace guns and violence, so incidents like the murder of Darrent Williams or the University of Miami's Bryan Pata is the awful price we're going to pay from time to time.

Just be thankful that killings don't happen more often.