For some, guns are a fact of life

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For some, guns are a fact of life BY ROMAN MODROWSKI STAFF REPORTER WASHINGTON--Bulls forward Charles Oakley patted his suit coat after a recent practice at the Berto Center and referred to the 9mm pistol he was carrying.Oakley never brandished the weapon, and he might have been just joking, but the relationship between athletes and firearms turned deadly serious on Feb. 14 when limousine driver Costas Christofi was shot to death in the home of former New Jersey Nets star Jayson Williams, a close friend of Oakley's. Williams has been charged with second-degree manslaughter.''It's society,'' Oakley said Monday. ''There are guns in society. They sell guns. Everybody in the South carries a gun or has guns at home.''Williams' incident may have tempered Oakley's attitude because Oakley wouldn't confirm or deny that he owns a handgun.''I can't tell you that,'' he said. ''Five years later, there'll be a headline that I told the press I had a gun.''Five years from now, headlines might be written about athletes who don't carry handguns. Judging from police blotters and candid admissions, athletes who carry side arms are becoming the norm.''Having a gun nowadays is like locking your door at night,'' Bulls swingman Jalen Rose said. ''It's something that almost everybody does. It doesn't necessarily make it right or wrong, it just makes it 2002 society.''Rose wasn't afraid to admit he owns a gun--''Yeah, I've got one; who doesn't?''--but he doesn't believe firearms are more prevalent among wealthy, young athletes, despite the sensational headlines.''There are people who have a one-bedroom abode to protect who have firearms,'' Rose said. ''When it's yours, you have to protect it. You don't have to have the nicest car to want to protect it. You want to protect what's yours, including your life. And it relates to your family and friends, as well.''Obviously, the bigger your house, the more locks, the more alarms, the more you have to protect, probably the more firearms. You can't control what the next man may do. The next man may snap for a reason, and you have to have a way to protect yourself.''Rose, also an acquaintance of Williams, defended Williams' right to own and display his weapons.''There's nothing necessarily wrong with him having it, or showing it for that matter, if he's in control of the situation,'' Rose said. ''I know people who hunt and show people guns.''The NBA, as well as other professional sports leagues, conducts seminars on the dangers of firearms and discourages players and coaches from owning guns. But evidence suggests the warning is unheeded.Nets coach Byron Scott admitted he owns a gun, as did Yankees slugger Jason Giambi. Former Bulls star Scottie Pippen once was arrested for having a gun in his car, but Bulls coach Bill Cartwright said incidents involving celebrities are blown out of proportion.''That was nothing,'' Cartwright said of the Pippen incident. ''Gun accidents happen all the time, but when it happens to somebody notable, it gets more attention.''Chicago native and Boston Celtics star Antoine Walker might have wished he had a weapon when he was robbed at gunpoint in Chicago during the summer of 2000. Walker was robbed of a $55,000 watch.''Society itself can be so rude and so cold that everybody has to protect himself,'' Rose said. ''It's really a sad state for society moreso than for the individual.''Sometimes, the intent to own a gun is based on nothing more than a survival instinct.''You have to do what you have to do,'' Oakley said. ''You have to know where you're at and where you can go and where you can't go. That's how it is in life.'' http://www.suntimes.com/output/bulls/cst-spt-bull051.html