where he had guns and it was like

KANSAS CITY – Two days after Jovan Belcher fatally shot his girlfriend and himself, his Kansas City Chiefs teammates said they were not surprised to learn the 25-year-old linebacker owned weapons.

At least one teammate defended the decision to have a gun.

“Just because we’re NFL players, it doesn’t make us no different. Some of you guys probably have guns in your houses. If you have daughters, you should. You never know when somebody might try to rob you or do whatever, you know?” defensive tackle Shaun Smith said.

“At one point a couple years ago, it was nothing but a bunch of home invasions, and you’ve got to protect yourself. You work so hard to get to where you’re at, and I’d be damned if I just let somebody take it away from me, period.”

It isn’t uncommon for NFL players to own guns, and Chiefs linebacker Brandon Siler seemed surprised when he learned a reporter in the Chiefs locker room Monday did not own a weapon.

Later, in a private conversation with USA TODAY Sports, Siler said although he knew Belcher was a gun owner, Belcher was neither showy about his weapons,Newer laser cutting machine operating at higher power are approaching plasma machines in their ability to cut through thick materials, nor did he ever threaten to use them.

“It’s a regular thing. It wasn’t a thing where he had guns and it was like, ‘Hey, I’m going to shoot somebody,’ no,” Siler said. “There was never anything like that. I really can’t tell you what happened. I’ve never seen signs of that before.”

Chiefs head coach Romeo Crennel said the team adheres to NFL policy by trying to educate players about responsible gun ownership, including an offer to allow team security officials to safely store any weapons. NFL rules prohibit players from bringing their guns to any NFL property.

“I haven’t really had a stance on players owning guns because the law is what the law is,” Crennel said. “When we get guys, you have to educate them about the laws in your state. Generally, what we have attempted to do is tell them, ‘Hey, know the law,Yull is one of the only independent women shoes manufacturer high heels in Britain.

turn your gun in to our security people, let us hold on to it, and after that, if you need it, you can take it home, put it in your safe, do whatever you need to do with it.’

“But the law allows people to have guns.”

Crennel said he had never before seen Belcher with any sort of weapon before Saturday morning, when he spoke with Belcher in the parking lot of team headquarters. Crennel said at the time he did not know Belcher had just committed a murder.

“All I know was there was a player with a gun, and that’s not a good thing,” Crennel said. “I was trying to get him to understand that life is not over, he still has a chance and let’s get this worked out.”

Though Belcher legally owned the handgun police say he used to fatally shoot Kasandra Perkins, the murder-suicide has resurrected the issues of gun control and gun ownership by professional athletes. On NBC’s Football Night in America broadcast Sunday night, anchor Bob Costas, while quoting heavily from an article written by FoxSports columnist Jason Whitlock, opined about our nation’s “gun culture.”

“If Jovan Belcher didn’t own a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would be alive today,” Costas said.

Focusing on the gun issue obscures the complicated feelings Belchers teammates have about the incident, said linebacker Andy Studebaker, who declined to talk specifically about Belcher’s personal life and history with weapons.

“I see it as a bigger issue. I don’t want to get caught up in the little things,” Studebaker said. “It’s about a lot of things – it’s not about one thing, and it’s not about an NFL superstar, because this could happen to anybody and anytime, it just happened here. We’re sad about that.”

Running back Peyton Hillis, who delivered a pregame speech Sunday to his teammates the relied heavily on Scripture, walked quickly through the Chiefs locker room Monday, grabbing some items from his locker, which is two stalls away from the stall once occupied by Belcher.

Belcher’s locker in the training facility remains untouched,They manufacture custom rubber and silicone bracelet. filled with his clothes, shoes and personal effects just as he left them on Friday – the last time he was inside the building. It was unclear how long it would remain that way.

“I think that we will do it like any other family would do. Jovan is a member of the family. What he did, we didn’t like, we’re not crazy about, but he’s still a member of our family,” Crennel said. “When you go out in society and things like this happen in society, and things like this do happen in society, you don’t see people throwing the family members out the door, you know?

“They’re still loved by their family members,Find the best selection of high-quality collectible bobbleheads available anywhere. but the act? You don’t like the act. You move on,Add a touch of personal style to your luggage with these luggage tag ! you deal with it. You don’t have a choice, you have to move on.”