There are no "routine" traffic stops.

Officer Shot, Killed During Traffic Stop

Lt. Eric Shuhandler A 12-Year Veteran Of Gilbert Police Department

POSTED: 6:43 am MST January 29, 2010

UPDATED: 8:43 am MST January 29, 2010

PHOENIX -- More than 20 investigators are at the scene where a Gilbert Police Department veteran was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop late Thursday evening.

According to a representative from the Gilbert Police Department, Lt. Eric Shuhandler, a 12-year veteran of the department, was shot once in the parking lot of a Fry's Marketplace at Val Vista Drive and Baseline Road.

"Two Mesa police sergeants were across the street, just north of Baseline," said spokesman Sgt. Mark Marino. "They heard the shot that was fired. They came over almost immediately (and) discovered Lt. Shuhandler."

Shuhandler was transported to the Maricopa Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

The two suspects were spotted near Greenfield and Baseline roads, and officers chased them on U.S. 60 to Superior, police said. Both men were hit during a shootout with officers at the end of the pursuit.

During the pursuit, the suspects threw debris from the work truck, disabling two patrol cars and a civilian vehicle, police said.

Both suspects are in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety will take the lead in the investigation of the pursuit and the shootout on U.S. 60, a DPS representative said. The road will remain closed until officers have finished gathering evidence.
Take the perps out of the hospital and shoot them both.  Save the time, trouble and cost of a trial.  I don't want to hear the wailing and lamentations of their mothers, sisters or baby-mamas.  I want them dead, today would be good.  Oh gee, is this politically incorrect?  Maybe mean or insensitive?  So is shooting officer Shuhandler. 
I demand an eye for an eye, I think God does too.

DPS confronts man with children on I-17

Garcia told authorities that their car had broken down, but officers found no car in the area. When officers asked Garcia to move to the other side of the guardrail with the children, he began to act frantic, authorities said. With the 5-year-old in his arms, Garcia started walking north into traffic, leaving the 6-year-old on the shoulder.

The officer attempted to calm Garcia down by stepping back, but Garcia continued into the next lane. Because traffic was light at the time, Garcia made it to the far lane, adjacent to the HOV lane.

Drivers noticed Garcia and came to a stop, allowing the officer to run into the road. Two Phoenix police officers traveling in unmarked cars arrived at the scene.

As Garcia became cornered, he claimed to have a gun. Officers used a Taser and forced him to the ground, according to DPS.

Officers discovered he had a fully loaded .45-caliber Taurus pistol, extra ammunition and a glass smoking device in his pockets. A check of the pistol revealed it was stolen.

Both children were unharmed and taken into Child Protective Services custody. CPS has begun an investigation.

Garcia was arrested and taken to the Fourth Avenue Jail. He could face charges of child abuse, threatening or intimidating, misconduct involving weapons, aggravated assault on a police officer, endangerment, possession of drug paraphernalia, obstruction of a highway, and theft and possession of stolen property.

I could walk to the site of this and not break a sweat.

PHOENIX (AP) - Authorities say a suspect in a domestic violence incident was shot and killed after he pulled out a gun and two Phoenix police officers opened fire.

Sgt. Tommy Thompson says neither of the officers, both 35-years-old, were injured in the shooting Monday night.

According to Thompson, the officers were investigating a domestic violence situation when they spotted a 51-year-old man who turned out to be a suspect in the case. When the officers attempted to contact the man, he pulled out a gun and the officers shot him.

The man's name has not been released. The officers are being placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, which is standard procedure.

Dear John.....

Former Ariz. congressman plans run against McCain

 

 PHOENIX (AP) - Former Arizona Congressman J.D. Hayworth says he's planning to run against John McCain for his U.S. Senate seat.

Hayworth told The Associated Press late Friday that he stepped down as host of his radio program on KFYI-AM, a conservative radio talk show in Phoenix. Legally, he wouldn't be able to host the program and be an active candidate.

Hayworth was ousted from his Congressional seat in 2007 after 12 years in office by Democrat Harry Mitchell, and has hosted the radio show for the past few years.

Hayworth says he's not formally announcing a run for the Senate seat, but that "we're moving forward to challenge John McCain."

He added that he's had a wonderful time at KFYI, but "it's time to enter public life again."

Dear John:  You lost the presidential election because you weren't conservative enough.  You had to bring in Sarah Palin to bump up your creds, and since she wasn't going to be president, we didn't vote for you.  You really have lost the conservative base in you home state, being such a liberal and all.  JD was in the house for 12 years (good enough).  He's amiable, well spoken and can whip your tired old ass. 

PS. Thanks for the Viet Nam service, we still consider you a war hero.  But then we still consider Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan to be Basketball players too.

Hmmmm....

 

 

Why is it, when a Republican gets elected, the voters are described as “angry” and when a Liberal Democrat gets elected, suddenly the voters are “enlightened, yearning for hope and change”?

Ah, those quaint customs South of the Border....

Human head found by tomb of Mexican drug lord Beltran Leyva

 

Mexico City - A human head and a red flower were found Sunday by the tomb of Mexican drug lord Arturo Beltran Leyva, who was killed by Mexican security forces in a raid last month. The office of the Attorney General of the state of Sinaloa said that an employee of the Jardines del Humaya cemetery in the city of Culiacan, about 1,200 kilometres northwest of Mexico City, had informed them of the finding. Several suspected drug bosses are buried in that cemetery.

Mexican authorities did not immediately know the identity of the person whose head was laid on the steps of access to the tomb with a flower in one ear. The rest of the body was found inside a plastic bag in the same cemetery, by the tomb of Gonzalo "El Chalo" Araujo, a boss of the Sinaloa drug cartel who was killed in October 2006.

Beltran Leyva, a former boss of the Sinaloa cartel, died on December 16 in a clash with members of the Mexican Navy in Cuernavaca, about 70 kilometres south of Mexico City.

The drug lord known as "El Barbas" had created in 2008 a new cartel under his own family name, after splitting with the Sinaloa cartel. He was regarded as one of Mexico's most dangerous drug traffickers.

Violence linked to organized crime claimed over 7,700 dead in Mexico in 2009, according to a count made by the daily El Universal.

Obama stumps for Coakley; Scott Brown holds counter-rally

By Matt Viser, Eric Moskowitz, and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

President Barack Obama urged Massachusetts voters at a Boston rally today to cast their ballots for Democrat Martha Coakley, saying she would fight for working people while her opponent, Scott Brown, is marching in "lockstep" with Washington Republicans who want to return to the failed policies of the Bush-Cheney administration.

Yeah, those eight years were pretty sucky.  Must be why he was elected twice.

"Where we don't want to go now is backwards," (Since when does he impersonate Yoda?)  Obama told a crowd of 1,500 Coakley supporters at a Northeastern University gymnasium. "We've got so much work left to do. ... I can't do it alone. I need leaders like Martha by my side so we can kick it into high gear, so we can finish what we've started." 

This country won't willingly trash itself ya know...

Obama traveled to the city to lend a hand to Coakley, the state's attorney general, because she is facing an unexpectedly tough challenge from Brown, a previously little-known state senator, in a race that could be crucial to the president's success in pressing his agenda in Washington. The president's appearance will be a key test of his ability to reenergize his dispirited party, the Globe reported this morning.

The president's speech was briefly interrupted by a shout of "Abortion! Abortion! Innocent Blood!" Two men and an 8-year-old boy were escorted out of the room by police. One of the men could be seen holding a placard that read, "Jesus loves all babies."

Brown held a competing rally at about the same time at Mechanics Hall in Worcester that was attended by 2,200 people, with other people spilling over into two additional rooms.

The rally's speakers included a number of Massachusetts sports and entertainment celebrities, including former Red Sox ace Curt Schilling; Doug Flutie, the former Boston College and NFL quarterback; John Ratzenberger, the actor who portrayed "Cliff" on the TV show "Cheers," and Brown's daughter, Ayla, a BC basketball player and former American Idol contestant.

One sign said, "The president may be in Boston, but the real people of Mass. are here with Scott Brown in Worcester."  And we cool like dat.......

Some of the sports figures likened the feeling at the rally, which came just two days before the election, to that of a locker room before a team goes out to win a championship.

"This feels to me like a clubhouse on the morning of Game 7," said Schilling, a World Series hero for the Red Sox.  AND ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS!!!!!!

"I stand before you as the proud candidate of Democrats, Republicans, and independents across Massachusetts, north and south, east and west," Brown told the crowd. "I will serve no faction but Massachusetts. I will pursue no agenda but what is right. I will be nobody's senator but yours."

"Friends and fellow citizens, I'm Scott Brown, I'm from Wrentham, I drive a truck and I'm asking for your vote," said Brown, who has made much of the fact that he owns a pickup truck with 200,000 miles on it.

But Obama told people at the Boston rally, "You've got to look under the hood," saying that Brown had a record of voting with the Republicans 96 percent of the time and it would be "hard to suggest" he would be independent from the Republican agenda.

Coakley told the crowd that "people are angry at the policies of the past that frankly rewarded the wealthy and left Main Street behind" and that people "deserve someone who's going to tackle the tough problems and get us back on track."

"Scott Brown is on the side of Wall Street CEOs. I'm on the side of taxpayers. I'm on your side to make sure that we change this," she said.

A series of Massachusetts elected officials spoke to the crowd before Obama took the stage. Victoria Reggie Kennedy, the widow of Edward M. Kennedy, whose death opened up the seat the Brown and Coakley are vying for, also spoke.

"As Teddy would say, Jan. 19 is the date, Massachusetts is the state, and Martha Coakley is our candidate," Kennedy told the crowd.  And then he would say, "errrr, ahhhh, weah are da broads at?  I, errr ahhh, seem to have misplaced my gin rickey.... errrrrahhhh."

Outside in the streets earlier today, an energetic crowd of thousands, most of them young people, stood in lines that stretched about a half-mile, hoping to get into the event.

Many held Coakley campaign signs. Some said they had been waiting for hours. Sarah Jane Vaughan, 31, of Arlington, said she was attending the event because she wanted to support Coakley. "It is nice right now that everyone is energized," she said.

Dozens of Brown supporters were also there, holding signs for their candidate bearing messages such as, "Make Obama frown, Vote for Scott Brown" and "What makes Dems vote Red, Big Bad Brown!"

Coakley entered the special election, which is on Tuesday, with a huge advantage: Registered Democrats in Massachusetts outnumber Republicans three-to-one, and the GOP hasn't won a US Senate seat here since 1972. But Brown has apparently tapped into a discontented electorate and appears to be making headway with the unpredictable independents who make up the majority of the voters.

If Brown were elected, it could have an immediate impact on the debate over health care reform in Washington. Brown has promised to be the 41st vote against the president's health care reform bill in Washington, while Coakley has promised to be the 60th vote for it. Political pundits are saying a victory by Brown could put Obama's entire agenda in Washington in jeopardy and foreshadow a seismic political shift in Washington toward the GOP.

Come on Mass.  Do what's right.

Independent Joseph L. Kennedy, who is no relation to the famous Massachusetts political family, is also running.  Not even sure why we brought him up.

The President and Unions get together for a mutual prostate massage.

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McCain strategist: Palin thought candidacy was mapped by God

 
Associated Press
Monday, January 11, 2010

Sarah Palin believed that Sen. John McCain chose her to be his running mate in the 2008 presidential race because of "God's plan," according to a top political strategist in the Arizona Republican's campaign.
In an interview with the CBS news magazine "60 Minutes," Steve Schmidt described Palin as "very calm -- nonplussed" after McCain met with her at his Arizona ranch just before putting her on the Republican ticket. McCain had planned to name Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) as his choice until word leaked, sparking what Schmidt called political blowback over selecting the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee.
Schmidt, McCain's chief campaign adviser, said he asked Palin about her serenity in the face of becoming "one of the most famous people in the world." He quoted her as saying, "It's God's plan." Palin has not ruled out a run for the presidency.
Schmidt was interviewed by "60 Minutes" for a segment about a new book about the 2008 presidential race, "Game Change," by John Heilemann of New York magazine and Mark Halperin of Time.
Schmidt credited Palin with being a quick study and for giving a great speech at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., but he said it soon became clear that she often was not accurate in her remarks.
"There were numerous instances that she said things that were -- that were not accurate that, ultimately, the campaign had to deal with. And that opened the door to criticism that she was being untruthful and inaccurate. And I think that that is something that continues to this day," he said.
Palin's spokeswoman, Meg Stapleton, has disputed the version of events presented in the book.
"The governor's descriptions of these events are found in her book, 'Going Rogue.' Her descriptions are accurate," Stapleton said in a statement to "60 Minutes." She added, "She was there. These reporters were not."
Schmidt conceded that had Palin not been on the ticket, "our margin of defeat would've been greater than it would've been otherwise."

 

And now, we shall portray the belief in God and that He has a plan for your life, as the ravings of a simpleton.  Compare the reactions to this story to the fact Obama went to Jeremy Wrights' Church of the Ranting Loon for 20 years and never heard him spout off his lunacy.  Say.... when was the last time our Christian in Chief went to church?  I don't go myself, but I never claimed to either.

 

 

What lies behind us and lies before us are small matters compared to what lies right to our faces.

Police ID teen accidentally run over by sister at Mesa mall

MESA -- Police have identified a 17-year-old boy who was killed Saturday when his teenaged sister accidentally ran over him with her car.

Mesa Police spokesman, Ed Wessing, said Dwight J. Brock, Jr. was dropped off at Superstition Springs mall by his 16-year-old sister Nicole Saturday evening.

According to Wessing, the two were playing around, with Dwight jumping in front of the car and Nicole slamming on the brakes.

The last time that happened Nicole was reportedly unable to stop and ran over her brother.

Dwight was taken to a local hospital in extremely critical condition and was later pronounced dead.

 

It's all fun and games until your sister runs over your head and pops your eyes out.

Court upholds police pointing gun at lawful carrier

It's open season on gun carriers.

A case out of the First Circuit has some painful lessons for gun carriers in Georgia.  A United States Circuit Court of Appeals last week upheld the constitutionality of pointing a gun at any citizen daring to carry, lawfully, a concealed weapon in public. 

The First Circuit Court of Appeals is the Court just below the United States Supreme Court in the New England states.  The case stems from a lawyer who sued a police officer after he was detained for lawfully carrying a concealed weapon while in possession of a license to carry concealed.  According to the case opinion, the lawyer, Greg Schubert, had a pistol concealed under his suit coat, and Mr. Schubert was walking in what the court described as a "high crime area."  At some point a police officer, J.B. Stern, who lived up to his last name, caught a glimpse of the attorney's pistol, and he leapt out of his patrol car "in a dynamic and explosive manner" with his gun drawn, pointing it at the attorney's face.

Officer Stern "executed a pat-frisk," and Mr. Schubert produced his license to carry a concealed weapon.  He was disarmed and ordered to stand in front of the patrol car in the hot sun.  At some point, the officer locked him in the back seat of the police car and delivered a lecture.  Officer Stern "partially Mirandized Schubert, mentioned the possibility of a criminal charge, and told Schubert that he (Stern) was the only person allowed to carry a weapon on his beat."  

For most people, this would be enough to conclude that they were being harassed for the exercise of a constitutional right, but the officer went further, seizing the attorney's pistol and leaving with it.  Officer Stern reasoned that because he could not confirm the "facially valid" license to carry, he would not permit the attorney to carry. Officer Stern drove away with the license and the firearm, leaving the attorney unarmed, dressed in a suit, and alone in what the officer himself argued was a high crime area.

The attorney sued in federal court, but the District Court threw out his suit, ruling that Officer Stern's behavior is the proper way to treat people who lawfully carry concealed pistols.  Mr. Schubert appealed, and the First Circuit upheld the District Court's ruling.  The court held that the stop was lawful and that Officer Stern "was permitted to take actions to ensure his own safety." 

The court further held that the officer was entitled to confirm the validity of a "facially valid" license to carry a concealed weapon.  The problem for Officer Stern was that there is no way to do so in Massachusetts, where this incident occurred.  As a result, the court held that Officer Stern "sensibly opted to terminate the stop and release Schubert, but retain the weapon."  

Georgia is not in the First Circuit, but this case holds some harsh lessons for Georgians who exercise their right to bear arms.  Recall that in the MARTA case here in Georgia, the court held that the officer was entitled to take measures to protect himself, including disarming the person carrying, and entitled to investigate further for a half hour even after Mr. Raissi produced a Georgia firearms license.  Although the officers in that case did not actually point a gun at Mr. Raissi's face, as Officer Stern did to attorney Schubert, it is a logical conclusion that the court would have upheld the constitutionality of them doing so.  The vast majority of the cases MARTA cited in its briefs to the federal court included an officer pointing a gun at the person stopped.  In addition, carrying a concealed weapon onto the MARTA system is a felony, and no court is going to hold that an officer violated any constitutional right by pointing a gun at an armed felon.

Furthermore, it must be recalled that Georgia, like Massachussetts and the vast majority of states, has no system to confirm the validity of a Georgia firearms license.   The similarities between the MARTA federal opinion and the First Circuit opinion are startling, and the implications for Georgia are clear.

This First Circuit case is a logical extension of the MARTA case here in Georgia, and it shows what armed Georgians can expect if the General Assembly does not take action soon to correct the presumption of criminality that federal judge Thomas Thrash attached to the exercise of the right to bear arms.

Welcome to the new "right" to bear arms.

Rush Limbaugh Says Doctors Found "Nothing Wrong"

LOS ANGELES, Jan 2 - (Reuters) - Influential conservative U.S. radio host Rush Limbaugh said on Friday doctors had found nothing wrong with him after he was hospitalized this week in Hawaii with sharp chest pains.

Limbaugh, 58, underwent an angiogram, or an imaging of the arteries and heart, to determine what caused the pain "like I have never experienced before," he said.

"They found absolutely nothing wrong. It was a blessing. No arterial disease, no coronary disease whatsoever," Limbaugh told reporters at Honolulu's Queen's Medical Center, where he was rushed on Wednesday from a nearby resort.

It was unclear when Limbaugh would return to his top-rated radio show, with 20 million listeners weekly. But he did use the news conference to take a jab at Democrats and their top policy priority -- healthcare reform that aims to give coverage to 47 million uninsured Americans and lower costs.

"Based on what happened to me here, I don't think there is one thing wrong with the American healthcare system. It is working just fine," he said.

Limbaugh, a multimillionaire, said he got no special treatment, but the staff made his stay "almost like a hotel."

That settles it: I'm going back to my 3 cigar a day habit.

Police warn against vigilantism in wake of bow and arrow incident

By Leslie Slape / The Daily News | Posted: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 11:00 pm

The mother of a man shot with a bow and arrow by an apparent vigilante is angry at some of the public response to the Dec. 13 incident, deriding online story comments as "hero worship."

Jacquelyne Crayne of Longview said in an interview this week the man who allegedly shot her son in the left buttock "took matters into his own hands that belonged to the police."

According to a Kelso police report, Scott Schwingdorf saw Galen Crayne prowling around a neighbor's property in North Kelso, a house that was vacant due to a recent fire. Schwingdorf yelled, and Crayne ran. Schwingdorf chased him to Cliff's Hilltop Market and shot him in the buttock with a broadhead arrow, according to police

The incident sparked a volley of anonymous online praise for the alleged shooter, including "he should be given a medal" and predictions that the crime rate would plummet if "more burglars were met with this kind of action."

The incident — and the reaction to it — are prompting police to remind the public that vigilante justice can have dangerous consequences.

A citizen who takes the law into his or her own hands puts people in danger, police say. A gun could go off accidentally, shooting the citizen, a loved one, an innocent bystander or a responding police officer. A suspect, cornered, could strike back.

"Many years ago, an employee at Keil's on Ocean Beach Highway (where Safeway is today) tried to stop a shoplifter and his face was slashed," recalled Detective Sgt. Mike Hallowell of the Longview Police. "He came extremely close to his jugular being cut."

He said most civilians don't have police or self-defense training, and if they're armed they could have weapons "taken from you and turned on you."

Law enforcement's advice is that "you find a safe place and call 911, and wait for us to take action," he said. "Wait for us to take the danger."

Vigilantes risk felony charges of their own, though the law does allow citizens some room to defend themselves and their property. Washington law RCW 9A.16.020 allows use of force in these instances:

• When used to arrest someone who has committed a felony and deliver the suspect to a public officer.

• When used by a party about to be injured or about to suffer "malicious interference " to his own property. The force must be "not more than is necessary."

• When force is "reasonably" used by the owner of property to detain someone who unlawfully enters his property.

If a prosecutor determines a citizen has exceeded the boundaries of the law, charges may be filed. Some people have gone to prison for taking the law into their own hands.

However, a Toledo homeowner who shot and killed a nighttime intruder in his home Oct. 27 seems unlikely to face charges in Lewis County. Although the case remains open, Lewis County Sheriff's Patrol Commander Steve Aust said Tuesday that, unless new evidence arises unexpectedly, it looks like the shooter legitimately acted in self defense.

In the Dec. 13 Kelso case, a police report has been sent to the Cowlitz County Prosecutor's Office. Both Crayne and Schwingdorf could face charges — Crayne for burglary or criminal trespass, Schwingdorf for assault.

Charging decisions probably will be made in early January, said Chief Criminal Deputy Michelle Shaffer. Until a charging decision is made, the prosecutor's office will not comment.

Crayne's mother doesn't shield her son from blame, but she's angry at Schwingdorf for shooting him.

"The man had 3 1/2 blocks to think about what he was doing, and he didn't think," Jacquelyne Crayne said. She said there's no excuse for burglary, but "this takes it to a whole different level. Somebody's got to try to get through to people. Think this through before somebody's killed for stuff that doesn't even belong to you." 

"He wasn't protecting himself. He wasn't protecting his own property," she said. "It was somebody else's property he had deemed himself in control of."

She said Monday the arrow still is deeply embedded in her son's pelvis. A decision is pending whether he will undergo extensive surgery to remove it. Her son broke off the shaft the night of the shooting, according to police.

Schwingdorf has not responded to Daily News requests for interviews as recently as Tuesday.

Some previous local attempts at vigilantism have had fatal and near-fatal consequences and worked out badly for the vigilantes.

Earlier this year, for example, Ringo Joe Hubbard, Jennifer Lowe, Edward Pelton and Delayna Stanley were sentenced to prison for their roles in the near-fatal shooting of Emanuel "Wes" Wesley. They meted out vigilante justice after Longview police found no evidence to support Lowe's contention that Wesley deliberately broke a window. The glass caused minor cuts to her son's face.

In 2002, Phillip Butters-Perry, Dale Ziolkowski, Michael Chilson and Sandy Fehr went to prison for their roles in the near-fatal beating Scott Vanskike of Longview. They were punishing him for the theft of two leather coats.

Even though Oliver Hooker was acquitted, he suffered as much as if he were guilty. In 2002, Hooker, of Centralia, shot and killed a suspected burglar, David Cline of Longview. Hooker, who had been burglarized 10 times before the shooting, was charged with first-degree manslaughter. Although a Lewis County jury found him not guilty, Hooker said the ordeal left him bitter and broken.

The psychological burden of using deadly force is something average citizens have no concept of, said Hallowell of the Longview Police.

"You've taken a life or you've injured somebody and you're trying to live afterward," he said. "There are psychological aftereffects."

Even police officers, who have mandatory counseling after they take a life or discharge a weapon, have trouble with the burden of regret, he said. "There's a significant increase in those that leave law enforcement."

Mom is right.  The guy with the bow had no right to injure a fleeing criminal (especially after 3 1/2 blocks)  there was no threat to him or anyone else at that time, and you don't try to kill someone for "messing with my stuff".  And it wasn't even the bowmans property being burgled.  Even if he is not charged (he should be) the civil liability in this case is going to make him live in a world of hurt.

Ooooo mommy, look at the big stupid thugs....

There's nothing quite like having a crisis on your hands to start a new year and a new decade, but that's exactly what David Stern has with the revelation that two Washington Wizards players allegedly drew guns on each other before a recent practice.

If true, the dangerous and idiotic behavior by Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittendon should be used by Stern to set an example.

The problem is, this is not the aftermath of the riot at Auburn Hills when Stern wasted almost no time in handing out record suspensions to Ron Artest, among others, for running into the stands to exchange punches with unruly fans. In that case, albeit a very different case, Stern was right to rush to judgment. The entire episode was seen on TV by millions that very night and for days after, amounting to the worst night in NBA history. So Stern couldn't afford to wait when he knew his league would be flogged, publicly, if he did not take swift and appropriate action.

But in this case, Stern needs to treat this like other legal issues and wait to see what D.C. police and the U.S. Attorney's office find in their joint investigation. Gunplay goes beyond the basketball court and the NBA's jurisdiction.

Friday, the NBA said it was monitoring the police investigation while continuing to do its own, and Arenas denied the story to The Washington Post and to people who are acting as his advisers.

When you've got $80 million coming to you after this season, over the next four years, as Arenas does, and your contract could be voided in this kind of mess, it makes sense to tell the world that the allegations are false.

But if it turns out that Arenas and Crittenton did, in fact, draw weapons and are indicted on gun charges, then Stern should hope that the players are harshly penalized in local courts.

After that, Stern needs to follow up with additional penalties. They have to be severe. He has to turn this particular episode into a landmark case.

If the two drew guns, then Stern has to send a message that firearms will no longer be tolerated in the NBA.

No exceptions.

From here on out, players who don't abide by the rule should be banned from the league. For life.

Throw Arenas out. Throw Crittenton out. Consider what happened down in D.C. a warning to all players.

Harsh as it is, it's the only way to go, rather than to risk having players one day actually exchanging gunfire.

Does the NBA really need that? Just imagine the outcry, from coast to coast, if one player ever shot another. It would make Auburn Hills look like a minor fracas.

IF TRUE: What a pair of idiots. Never point a weapon at something you don't want to destroy. Guns are not used to impress people or threaten them, they are for defense and they are made to kill. PERIOD. If I pulled a gun on someone frivolously, I would lose my job and go to jail. They deserve the same.