Plaxico Burress has landed on his feet. His former team, the New York Giants, released him when he was convicted for carrying a concealed weapon in the ostensibly gun-free zone of Manhattan. And shooting himself in the leg. After spending a couple of years courtesy of the tapped out taxpayers of the state of New York, he’s back in the NFL catching balls for the New York Jets. Same city, same stadium, different uni. He’s also working on whitewashing his image by flacking for the Brady Campaign. Because that’s what his agent told him would be the quickest path back to those lucrative endorsement contracts, no doubt. Now he’s come clean about what actually happened that fateful night. Not that any of it is really a surprise…

Burress was clubbing and decided to tote a mohaska. While it’s certainly understandable that he’d want the ability to protect himself, he picked the wrong venue. NYC is as restrictive as it gets when it comes to procuring a carry permit. And Burress didn’t have one.

He also chose to carry his heater gangsta style, stuffed in his pants, no holster. Because that’s the way he rolls. Or rolled. As we’ve detailed, waistband carry can be problematic. And painful.

“I had a drink in my left hand,” Burress says. “I’m just walking up the stairs. And, you know, it was dark. And I kind of, you know, missed a step. That’s when I felt my gun … started to slide. I went to grab it … to stop it from falling. Pow.”

“I knew it had went off. I saw the fire, like, come through my jeans.”

Burress tells Gumbel he did not feel the pain immediately.

“I took a couple more steps and my jeans were like — my jeans are wet. And I looked down. I had some Chuck Taylors on and they were — the white was all red. I’m in trouble,” he says.

Pow. The chance of a dropped gun firing are virtually nil. Cocked or not, any modern gun is made in such a way as to make firing as a result of being dropped extremely difficult. 

However, there’s one thing you can do that will significantly increase the chances of a negligent discharge when a gun falls – try to catch it. It’s the most natural thing in the world. Something drops, you try to snag it. That’s when you reach down quickly, awkwardly grabbing for anything that will prevent your precious pistol from getting dinged when it contacts the pavement.

That’s also when you’re most likely to come in contact with the trigger, just as Burress did. With negative career and personal freedom implications. Had he let the gun fall to the ground, the likelihood that anyone who was there even knowing what happened is small. But when the gun went off and the slug went through his leg…national news. For which he can also thank the shameless grandstanding and opportunism of America’s favorite nanny mayor Mike Bloomberg.

So do yourself and everyone around you a favor. When you carry, however you carry, use a holster. And if you do drop a gun, for whatever reason, let it fall. Think of those dings and scratches as marks of experience. Because the ER and/or jail are experiences we’re certain you’d rather not share with a highly compensated wide receiver.

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11 COMMENTS

  1. I’m really glad the Steelers didn’t sign him. I would have been extremely pissed if a Brady backer played for my favorite team. I really doubt his association with the BC will last that long.

  2. I love the JETS, and I still can’t believe they signed this fool. I guess he’s going to have to take out a few of his teammates (since his gun catching skills suck, I’m pretty sure he’ll be dropping a lot of balls) before they send him packing.

  3. Burress flacks for the Brady Windbags, Vick does the same for the Humane Society. What’s next, Ben Roethlisberger fronting for MENSA? It’s a strange, strange world we live in, Master Jack.

  5. As a life long Giants fan, I got from him all I wanted (i.e., catching the winning TD in SB XLII). Good riddance. BTW, I don’t remember him ever having any lucrative endorsement contracts, so I don’t know what he expects to get back in that regard.

  6. Another idiot. In MO it is illegal to pack heat and drink. In NY it is illegal to pack heat, but drinking while packing is profoundly stupid.

    On the other hand, we had an idiot on the Rams team actually drink, drive and kill someone. Probation, and the Rams tried to make it all better. Screwed up world. Dude shoots himself and he’s a pariah, dude kills a mom and everyone wants to “understand.”

  7. Here in Georgia, we got the law changed (last year). We can now drink, be drunk, and carry. In fact, GeorgiaCarry.Org held a convention last weekend and there was lots of drinking while armed.

    There was only three gun fights. Well, really two. The third one was two guys shooting each other over a dropped chicken wing with 38’s. We all know that 38’s aren’t really guns so that doesn’t really count.

    • We can now drink, be drunk, and carry.

      Pennsylvania too. Thank God. And I don’t even drink. My point being that I’ve had it with federal, state and local governments telling J. Fritz what he can or can not do.

  8. Not a Plaxico Burress fan, but the fact that I dislike Bloomberg infinitely more almost made me feel bad for him.
    I will be interested to see what his PSA for the Brady Misinformation Campaign will be.

  9. Great…. Just another high paid moron. Don’t think I’ll be watching the J E T S this year. Mo Money, Mo Money. Das what it all about.

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