Let me get one thing out of the way immediately: I am not and have never been a proponent of hand guns. However, I also have never been an educator on why they are bad for society either. I do believe in the freedoms to which we are privileged in this country and in the case of this matter, the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The recent events in Kansas City wherein Chiefs’ linebacker Javon Belcher fatally shot his girlfriend — also the mother of his 3 month old daughter — in front of his own mother are not about hand guns. They are more about domestic violence. We glamorize hand guns in pop culture which makes it hard to distinguish the pros and cons of owning one. How many times over the past few months have we seen bizarre and/or disturbing incidents in which mentally unstable people are roaming the streets looking to inflict harm on others? Is this an issue of hand guns or hand gun distribution? Perhaps the methods by which one can obtain a hand gun should be examined? Should the rules required to buy a firearm be more stringent?
Why am I asking all of these questions and what are the answers? Each of my inquiries should have a resounding “YES” placed next to them.
And, at least one of those questions above, in my opinion, reeks of Belcher specifically. Especially the references made to mentally unstable persons. I’m sure those that knew this young man will say he was kind, nice, caring, etc. But no person in control of their mental faculties would do what he did. It’s one thing to kill yourself — which in its own right is tragic. But to take the life of another so violently… one with whom you have a relationship and a child is downright horrific.
It is clear that Belcher had some sort of mental instabilities that may or may not have had ‘red flags’ making them apparent. These red flags are areas in which I think professional sports and society as a whole could learn, yet again, from a maddening situation.
I’m not sure what would constitute these ‘red flags.’ But I’m sure, in examining any self-destructive person; there will be tracks laid down that, at times, are out of the realm of normal behavior in a sane person. Issues of domestic violence generally precede more or escalated violence. The earlier violence constitutes a ‘red flag.’
Another red flag to me is young people being so dependent on each other that they feel the need to marry at such young ages as we are seeing in society today. While not all that are under 30 years of age fail at being parents and/or spouses, statistics will prove that nearly 50% of marriages end in divorce anyway and that 60% of all couples who marry between the age of 20 and 25 end up divorced. Additionally, there are youngsters that come into a lot of money, fame or power at times that are ill-equipped to handle these things; much less the responsibilities of marriage and children. As a result, in many of these situations of divorce, there seems to be issues of domestic violence.
The situation in Kansas City just seems like a carbon copy of some of these issues. Some young couples facing the pressures of finances or parenting do not yet even know themselves as adults. This is a recipe for disaster which, in Kansas City, unfortunately played itself out like the perfect script to a horror movie. This unspeakable tragedy should be a learning point for young professional athletes, professional sports and our society. We need to educate ourselves on what constitutes those ‘red flags’ which could lead to mental instabilities and the domestic violence that can be a result of the combination.
Lake Lewis Jr., President and CEO of the Sports Journey Broadcast Network, is accredited media for the NFL and NBA, and a former syndicated host for ESPN Radio. Watch his daily national sports broadcast live on Mondays from 3-6 pm on SportsJourney.com.