"police see an AK-47 and other serious weaponry"
Was it actually a fully automatic Automat Kalisnikova, model of 1947, or one of the myriad scary-looking-but-legal knockoffs?
"What went wrong here, and why do football players have AK-47s in their apartments?"
Why not? If it's a longarm and I remember the law correctly, they're legal to own if you're 18.
"Granted, our Founding Fathers made sure Webb had a constitutional right to possess those weapons - because we all know the British Army is in hot pursuit of Webb and his slippery hands."
Please restrain yourself. Just because you don't think firearms should be legal doesn't mean they *are* illegal.
"It really makes you scratch your head and wonder what else these athletes do with their free time - I hear bomb-making really helps fill the time between the bowl season and spring practice."
Nice strawman. Was he found with explosives too, or are you just making this up?
"But why would kids with NFL aspirations and public lives even think about playing with guns, and why were the guns loaded?"
First: the old male fallback: "Anything that rolls or explodes" and second, why not? I'm guessing you were either horribly traumatized at some point in your life, or you've never fired a .22. Go look up a gun range in the yellow pages, find one that'll provide rentals and training, (expect to pay ~$15 for the rental, ~$10 for the range time, and buy the cheap .22 ammo -- $0.75 for 50 is about right; if you're in Central Florida I'd recommend West Oaks Gun Range) and punch some holes in a piece of paper across the room. I guarantee you won't be so utterly disgusted with gun owners the next day. Your second point is a good one, however - loaded guns in plain view behind a layer of glass are begging to be stolen by people that by definition shouldn't have them.
" 'Even though they're living off campus, they're at the University of Florida on scholarship, and they're football players purchasing a gun of that magnitude,' said the Rev. Herbert McGraw, stepfather of UF receiver Dallas Baker. 'That's just a no-no.' "
No. It's not. As long as they did not bring the firearm onto school property or any other place of nuisance, defined by Florida law as - oh heck, here's the statute:
790.06 (12) License to Carry Concealed Weapon or Firearm
* Any place of nuisance as defined in s. 823.05
* any police, sheriff, or highway patrol station;
* any detention facility, prison, or jail;
* any courthouse; any courtroom, except that nothing in this section would preclude a judge from carrying a concealed weapon or determining who will carry a concealed weapon in his or her courtroom;
* any polling place;
* any meeting of the governing body of a county, public school district, municipality, or special district;
* any meeting of the Legislature or a committee thereof;
* any school, college, or professional athletic event not related to firearms;
* any school administration building;
* any portion of an establishment licensed to dispense alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises, which portion of the establishment is primarily devoted to such purpose;
* any elementary or secondary school facility;
* any area vocational-technical center;
* any college or university facility unless the licensee is a registered student, employee, or faculty member of such college or university and the weapon is a stun gun or nonlethal electric weapon or device designed solely for defensive purposes and the weapon does not fire a dart or projectile;
* inside the passenger terminal and sterile area of any airport, provided that no person shall be prohibited from carrying any legal firearm into the terminal, which firearm is encased for shipment for purposes of checking such firearm as baggage to be lawfully transported on any aircraft; or
* any place where the carrying of firearms is prohibited by federal law
I'm under the impression that he has not actually violated this; why exactly is this "just a no-no"?
"But this problem far exceeds one accidental pull of the trigger. If it comes to light that Caldwell, Lewis or any other football player acted carelessly with weapons, he should be penalized as well."
Accidental my ass, here you're right -- someone violated one of the four cardinal rules of gun safety:
Jeff Cooper's Rules of Gun Safety
RULE I: ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED
RULE II: NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO DESTROY
RULE III: KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET
RULE IV: BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET
I'm also a college student, I don't play football, and I'd probably also own a rifle (in a perfect world, a US-made M1 carbine and an antique Browning .22 ) if I wasn't a broke college student. The only real no-nos this guy committed was mixing booze and firearms, and breaking one of the four rules, which I'm chalking up to the booze.
-[Chrontius]
I'll see your DMCA and raise you a First Amendment.
http://www.anti-dmca.org