Bills’ Lynch arrested for committing non-crime of a crime

By Anthony Bialy  |   Tuesday, February 17, 2009  |  Comments( 87 )

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Arresting Buffalo Bills running back Marshawn Lynch on the charge of owning a gun is like arresting someone who owns a car and bottle of Jack Daniels on a charge of drunk driving. Lynch has been charged with possessing a concealed firearm, as if it’s preferable that he instead waves it around. Either way, it doesn’t sound as if he actually did something naughty with the gun, which should be the standard for arrest regardless of whether it is the standard.

Lynch was apprehended near Los Angeles on Wednesday after Culver City Police observed him and two other men in a Mercedes Benz. Who knew that sitting in a car constitutes probable cause? These may have been the same officers who arrested Axel Foley for getting thrown out of a window. Regardless, police approached the vehicle, spoke to the men, and discovered one had a loaded handgun that they determined belonged to the Bill, although reports are that Lynch himself didn’t actually have it on his person at the time. The back was arrested on a felony possession of a concealed weapon charge and booked before being released on $35,000 bail.

But what did he do wrong? The Cal product may have had the gun for protection reasons: In that scenario, he’s looking out for his own safety rather than trying to endanger someone else’s. This isn’t a case of someone wanting to defend himself against a theoretical attack, either, as Lynch has actually been shot at before: He was famously a victim of mistaken identity in college when some young men left their Boy Scouts meeting, headed to volunteer at a soup kitchen, and stopped in between to attempt a drive-by on him. His safety already violated, Lynch deserves to be able to protect himself if there’s a next time. Innocent people must be allowed to fire back.

Regardless of regulations, acts done with a gun are pertinent, not who merely owns it. And even then the deeds themselves could be entirely justified. It’s like when Indianapolis Colts receiver Marvin Harrison may have been involved in a shooting outside his business last year. The media asked whether the player pulled the trigger without ever bothering to ask whether he may have been defending himself. Responding to trouble is the exact opposite of initiating it.

At the same time, someone like the New York Giants’ Plaxico Burress is the sort of careless dope who would have injured himself no matter what. If every gun on earth was locked in a safe buried under Santa’s house, Burress would have ended up cracking his skull with nunchucks. The implement is irrelevant.

Sadly, the NFL might permit general hysteria to override specific facts. Commissioner Roger Goodell’s blanket policy on personal conduct bodes poorly for Lynch, as the King is likely too busy inking up his rubber “SUSPENDED” stamp to weigh the case’s actual merits.

Not helping Lynch will be sanctimoniously uptight types who brand him a repeat offender, even though his transgressions amount to 1) a genuine accident with a pedestrian and 2) having a gun. The first didn’t quite lead to Lynch’s photo being displayed at the post office; as for the latter, they may as well arrest him for not permitting soldiers to be quartered in his home.

There’s no more simplistic notion than the one that guns are inherently dangerous, which ignores the owner’s intent. Legally or not, Lynch has a moral right to carry a device that does zero harm on its own, especially considering that many athletes constantly and rightly fear becoming targets.

He hasn’t perpetrated anything wrong, unless authorities somehow know he was about to threaten or shoot someone; this isn’t “Minority Report,” and thankfully real life has nothing to do with any vision offered by Steven Spielberg and acted out by Tom Cruise. Lynch doesn’t need to supplement his income with a convenience store robbery or mugging, and the police’s only case against him is that they suspected he was going to attempt to keep it real. That won’t hold up in court.

Regardless of legal statutes, the true crime is assuming every firearm owner is out for mayhem. Until it’s shown that Lynch did something bad with a gun, there is exactly nothing wrong with Lynch owning a gun. Prosecutors will now decide whether to pursue the case, and the first step should be determining who exactly was this alleged offense’s victim.

Until then, police may as well detain Lynch for owning steak knives, as he might be thinking of stabbing someone with his cutlery.
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About Anthony Bialy

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CommentsComments: 87  |  Sign Up  View all comments
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No.1
flda-dennis		11:17 AM
02/17/2009
Lynch just cant seem to stay out of trouble-hit & run, domestic abuse, weapons charge. This guy needs some GOOD friends to keep...
No.2
Nico		11:22 AM
02/17/2009
AB you're such a knucklehead. "a genuine accident with a pedestrian"??? A genuine accident doesn't involve hitting someone with...
No.3
bflobob8		11:34 AM
02/17/2009
Apparently Bialy is pro gun. He completely missed the problem that Lynch faces which is it is a FELONY to have an unregistered...
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