Reasoning behind Marshawn carrying a weapon...

[sauce]

First off in no way do I condone carrying a loaded firearm in the trunk of your car

In today's society athletes have a "gangster" mentality and if you ask me have watched the movie scarface one too many times but honestly that is just me looking from the outside in.

I will not even get into much of a rant about the modern athlete and today's cutural influences ie: hip hop, etc and the correlation with violence

But I found this article and thought it was interesting as to the reasoning behind why Marshawn carries a gun

IMHO unless you know the type of environment these athletes come from and the obsticles they have had to overcome you should not be quick to pass judgement.........



Home Reno News Story
Drive-By Changes Graduation Plans At Oakland School
Wednesday, June 14, 2006 – updated: 1:36 am PDT June 15, 2006

OAKLAND -- A top athlete at UC Berkeley returned to his high school alma mater in Oakland Wednesday afternoon, only to be caught in the middle of a wild shooting. The incident left no one injured, but forced the school to alter graduation plans out of safety concerns.

Cal's starting running back Marshawn Lynch is a graduate of Oakland Tech and a potential candidate for college football's Heisman Trophy. Lynch was visiting his younger sister on her last day at Oakland Tech on Broadway at 42nd Street when suddenly bullets started flying.

The shooting happened around noon. Witnesses say about five or six shots were fired toward a car near the campus.

No one was hurt, but school officials still scrambled to lock down the campus.

"They started locking the doors and the teachers started running down the hallways and started putting everyone in their classes," said Oakland Tech student Peter George.

"The car apparently had shots fired at it. It appears to be a case of mistaken identity, as no one in the car knew the shooter," said Kent Klintworth of the Cal athletic department. When asked if he felt Lynch was targeted, Klintworth confirmed the incident appeared to be completely random.

The incident led Oakland Tech officials to move the graduation ceremony scheduled to take place at the school Wednesday evening to the Paramount Theater. About two hundred graduates of the school celebrated their commencement at the historic Art Deco theater.

The shooting earlier in the day cast a pall over an otherwise festive occasion. Oakland police were on hand, virtually surrounding the location during the ceremony. Their presence was meant to help deter any possible violence after the incident.

Some graduating students were disappointed that the threat of violence marred this momentous day in their young lives; others took the disruption in stride.

"It happens around graduation time. It's one of those things you live with. That doesn't sound very good, …but it's just part of life as of now," said graduating senior Nora Larson.

Outside the theater, Marshawn Lynch's mother said that her son was at the campus visiting friends and just wanted to wish his sister well on her last day of school. She also said a representative of the shooter went to her home to tell her that Marshawn was not the intended target of the shooting and to apologize.

Exactly who the shooter was intending to go after isn't clear. Oakland police are continuing their investigation into the matter.









Sounds like it is almost thought of as an every day occurance to the people in the neighborhood Lynch grew up in....

[kernowboy]

So its shoot or be shot

That's the same as excusing kids for carrying knifes just in case they might get threatened with one.

Professional athletes are supposed to be the role models for the you of today but look at the example they set.

If he is so scared about his personal safety, hire a bodyguard - he gets paid enough to do that

If you're an intelligent kid, given the chance to escape from the wrong side of the tracks - only the dumbest would want to go back once they've made it unless they are doing charity work etc.

I can't believe Lynch was there to do charity work

[billogic99]

Whats the point in getting rich and escaping the piss poor condition you grew up in if you then return to those condition and get into trouble and risk losing the lifestyle you were so fortunate to be given? I'm sorry but I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would be that dumb. You have the money to go anywhere and do anything you want and you choose to put yourself in a situation that could destroy your career and finacial stability, utterly idiotic.

[ddaryl]

Marshawn was shot at a few times in his life in Oakland. I myself have toured some of the back city streets in many different cities... There is a whole different survival mentality for these guys, and when they become pro's and have money the armed survival skill doens't dissapear. IMO it is re-enforced by the fact that they now have so much to lose.

Heck Marshawns gold teeth would be reason enough for a blanket party beating...

none the less it is an issue and it was a law broken....

but for some reason as much as I loathe this situation, I like Marshawns football style and just hope he wisens up... BUT if he needs a suburban mentor I am more then willing to be that person.

[ddaryl]

Whats the point in getting rich and escaping the piss poor condition you grew up in if you then return to those condition and get into trouble and risk losing the lifestyle you were so fortunate to be given? I'm sorry but I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would be that dumb. You have the money to go anywhere and do anything you want and you choose to put yourself in a situation that could destroy your career and finacial stability, utterly idiotic.

So its shoot or be shot

That's the same as excusing kids for carrying knifes just in case they might get threatened with one.

Professional athletes are supposed to be the role models for the you of today but look at the example they set.

If he is so scared about his personal safety, hire a bodyguard - he gets paid enough to do that

If you're an intelligent kid, given the chance to escape from the wrong side of the tracks - only the dumbest would want to go back once they've made it unless they are doing charity work etc.

I can't believe Lynch was there to do charity work

in your early 20's your still carrying that teenager menatality... that's not going to change quickly. Your a product of your upbringing.... Ask yourself how your life turned out and then look back on your younger years and your 20's

For me I was still a party animal until I was in my late 20's. It wasn't till then that I started to really re-evaluate what I wanted in my life, and then it took me moving away from Buffalo...

These guys have so much cash they live in an alternate world of what was and no worries do what you want mentality... a dangeorus combination.

heck if I was to become welathy at 21 years of age I be dead today... I just had no real self control at a young age, and even today I require reminders of why I don't do certain activities anymore

[billogic99]

Marshawn was shot at a few times in his life in Oakland. I myself have toured some of the back city streets in many different cities... There is a whole different survival mentality for these guys, and when they become pro's and have money the armed survival skill doens't dissapear. IMO it is re-enforced by the fact that they now have so much to lose.

Heck Marshawns gold teeth would be reason enough for a blanket party beating...

none the less it is an issue and it was a law broken....

but for some reason as much as I loathe this situation, I like Marshawns football style and just hope he wisens up... BUT if he needs a suburban mentor I am more then willing to be that person.

Wouldn't most people with an ounce of common sesne and money to spend spend their free time in places that wont jeprodize their future and possibly their lives? Lynch had no business being there in the first place, much less carrying a gun.

[ddaryl]

Wouldn't most people with an ounce of common sesne and money to spend spend their free time in places that wont jeprodize their future and possibly their lives? Lynch had no business being there in the first place, much less carrying a gun.

its not as easy as you think to change your entire life skills in a few years... Especially when you are so welathy you really don't have to depend or listen to anyone anymore. Your basically a young adult with a free run and you utilize the way of life you know.

I've never been shot at before, but I know Marshawn has been in Oakland. Having that menatility that anyone can take a pop shot at you just doens't fade away. AND Marshawns friends and family are still living in these areas where the old gang bang menatality is thriving. he probably fears for his safety because he feared for it before

I don't condone what he did, but there is a deeper pattern here that most of us white suburanites don't understand

[billogic99]

its not as easy as you think to change your entire life skills in a few years... Especially when you are so welathy you really don't have to depend or listen to anyone anymore. Your basically a young adult with a free run and you utilize the way of life you know.

I've never been shot at before, but I know Marshawn has been in Oakland. Having that menatility that anyone can take a pop shot at you just doens't fade away. AND Marshawns friends and family are still living in these areas where the old gang bang menatality is thriving. he probably fears for his safety because he feared for it before

I don't condone what he did, but there is a deeper pattern here that most of us white suburanites don't understand

It's not as easy as I think? Wow, are you serious? It's all about choices, the more money you have the more choices you have. The more money you have the better the choices are. He could have been back in Buffalo working with the boys club to improve the life of a young kid to help them out of the same kind of life he had growing up. He could have been doing a lot of things that didn't include sitting in a car with a gun in the trunk. He not only made a bad choice for himself, but his teammates. I'm sorry but Lynch isn't 10, he an adult with more advantages than 90% of the people on this site. There are ZERO excuses for his piss poor decisions.

[VeggieMan14]

I agree that the backgrounds of the players are the majority of the reasons that players carry guns but they have enough money that they should be able to hire multiple bodyguards or look into the rules enough to know when and where they are allowed to have a gun and things like that

[ddaryl]

It's not as easy as I think? Wow, are you serious? It's all about choices, the more money you have the more choices you have. The more money you have the better the choices are. He could have been back in Buffalo working with the boys club to improve the life of a young kid to help them out of the same kind of life he had growing up. He could have been doing a lot of things that didn't include sitting in a car with a gun in the trunk. He not only made a bad choice for himself, but his teammates. I'm sorry but Lynch isn't 10, he an adult with more advantages than 90% of the people on this site. There are ZERO excuses for his piss poor decisions.

all I was saying is there is a menatality ingrained in all these guys that does not just dissapear in the 1st few years of adulthood

you really do not understand how horrible and threatening life is in these cities... These guys carry gunbs becuase they were brought up knowing that they had to because nobody else was going to protect them...

Watch some of the documentaries about inner LA and Oakland streets... its a complete warzone...

Now think about all the veterans of wars. Thank about all those soldiers that came back from Vietnam... So many of them were screwed up for life... When your surrounded by violence and fear that menatality just doens't disspear once you get a good paying job.

In fact in pro sports these young adults are making more money then we will earn in a decade or a lifetime, and that type of financial freedom is not a good mixture for most young people. It took me years of scraping by with low paying jobs to really appreciate what I have and what I want in life... and I never had to fear for my life just an occasional run in with a school bully which didn't happen very often...

again Marshawn screwed up but you honestly believe that a person can just completely change direction immediatley and live a completely new and unfamiliar life at the drop of a hat. In some rare cases this happens, but most yound adults go though a metamorphis of changes over that 1st decade of adulthood. BUT again with a pro athlete making millions this can be a different road of learning.. some people only learn after screwing up.. some learn by getting lucky, and some do just wisen up... but I do beleive I understand where some of this athlete stupidity comes from

[billsfanone]

You can take the ______ out of the ______, but you can't take the ______ out of the _________.

[ddaryl]

You can take the ______ out of the ______, but you can't take the ______ out of the _________.

you can but in many cases this transformation takes years. Some people need to learn how to live differently...

I personally think Marshawn is the kind of guy who will learn and be a solid citizen, but he needs to learn a hard lesson and be humbled... Hopefully not getting off on this one, and facing the fans and media will be exactly what he needs to make the transformation.. but if he is hanging with his buddies back in the old neighborhoods it will be harder for him.

unfortunately I view Marshawn as a loyal guy.. like the realtionship him and fred Jackson formed. Loyalty is wonderful, but Marshawn is loyal to his old neighborhood, and those that come form similiar backgrounds. Marshawn is not a me guy, he will have a hard time cutting ties with old friends because of his loyal demeanor... that's just my opinion...

[ddaryl]

I must add to this discussion.... that I viewed the hit and run more negatively then this situation... We have the right to bear arms in this country. If he was practicing gun safety then I really don't have to much problems with carying a gun.

BUT not being wise enough to follow local laws he deserves to be slapped for it

[yordad]

So its shoot or be shot

That's the same as excusing kids for carrying knifes just in case they might get threatened with one.

Professional athletes are supposed to be the role models for the you of today but look at the example they set.

If he is so scared about his personal safety, hire a bodyguard - he gets paid enough to do that

If you're an intelligent kid, given the chance to escape from the wrong side of the tracks - only the dumbest would want to go back once they've made it unless they are doing charity work etc.

I can't believe Lynch was there to do charity work

Your right, only criminals should carry guns.

Also, athletes should be role models, not a kid's parents.

I mean, why would one want to visit his old neighborhood, or his old friends in the off season, unless of course he wanted to shoot one.

[bigbub2352]

Not to hard of a scenario folks, Ignorance is key in this issue, u are a professional athlete, no need to have a gun or be sitting in a car with some hood rats u should be training, distancing urself from these people in order to have a successful career
Should have stayed in Buffalo away form the gangs and ghetto u came from learning how to be a better RB not out chillin with ur homies

[jamze132]

How hard is it to stay away from your hometown, especially if it's a gangster paradise? I graduated in 96' and haven't been back since.

[yordad]

I was hit by a tow truck the other day. He rammed me off the road and drove away. He claimed he didn't know he hit me, and although I tried to get charges filed, the police wouldn't even write a ticket.

Thought it was worth mentioning, and I honestly don't think he knew he hit me.

[mybills]

Don't know the laws out there, but wouldn't it have been worse if he had the gun in his waistband or pocket?

[kgun12]

I am reading a lot of excuses here. Poor kid from poor community, rough neighborhood, lived a gangster live and hard to break it. I SAY IT"S ALL CRAP! Take the family out of there put them in a nice school in buffalo (there are plenty of them, hire a bodyguard for protection that can also drive a car when you go out to clubs. I am so sick of our society making excuses for all the problems kids are facing. The problem is the more crap they do the louder we yell the excuses. This country and society needs to get back to the mentally of "be accountable for your own actions"! My parents made all 4 of the sons live by this, I live by this today, make my boys live by this, I make my employees live by this and when I coached high school wrestling and baseball, I made my players live by the same standards!

Guess what; I have not been in trouble with the law or anywhere else nor has any of the folks I listed above while in my charge and for the most part now that those kids are out on there own. Somehow or someway, we need to start teaching right from wrong and make them accountable when the mess up.

To that point, as much as I like Lynch, he must serve what ever penalty comes with this charge, even if it means we lose him for part or all of the season. Maybe if he would have had to face the music for his problems last time he might not be in this situation now!

[mybills]

worse, as in, bigger charges/stiffer penalty?