Sporting News

Yesterday they perp-walked a $40 million man out of his mansion and off to jail on charges of Murder One. He's accused of executing his erstwhile friend with a shot to the back of the head, then destroying the evidence (or trying to). He allegedly smashed his security system and his cell phone, and hired professional cleaners the day after the alleged murder. His team, the Boston Patriots, has already fired him. They're being cheered for their sense of morality and clarity in many quarters, although it has also been pointed out that the crime Mr. Hernandez is accused of is so egregious that for the Patriots to "stand by him" would probably be, for most of the public, bad business.

Certainly this is a tragedy in many ways, as well as a horrific crime. If the crime's been so quickly solved, good for the police. There was a fairly similar incident played out concerning the Charlotte NFL team about ten years or so back. An end named Rae Caruth was eventually convicted of killing his girl friend, and still languishes in prison in North Carolina I believe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rae_Carruth

Among all the questions one might raise in this Hernandez affair, here's one that seems obvious to me. Mr. Hernandez's easy access to firearms surely made this alleged event, which has and will change many lives, all for the worse most likely, much easier to accomplish. Murder, it's just a kiss away. What a terrific waste.

Friday Update: There's all sorts of easily accessible news coming out about this case. One hopes that eventually there will be a decent trial, and justice will be served. From what I've now read, I'd make two assertions, both of which I think on the evidence to be true:

1. The incredible cancer of fire arm proliferation in the American public guarantees that many more people, many of them entirely innocent, many of them children, will die, than would be the case if we had even mildly more restrictive rules about who can own a fire arm and its ammunition. That the United States Congress is incapable of any action aimed at ameliorating this present condition is appalling.

2. Apparently Mr. Aaron Hernandez is one of a relatively small number of people who is unfettered by even common sense when it comes to doing whatever he wants to do in the short term. He lives in a mansion and under a $40 million contract. All he has to do is play some ball every Sunday for about a third of the year, plus stay in shape to do so. Given all this, he is alleged to have executed a family friend (the guy was dating the mother of Mr. Hernandez's child!), cold-bloodedly, with the aid of accomplices, in what can only be described as a gangland style. The ruthlessness of this alleged crime is breathtaking. So, surely, is Mr. Hernandez's utter stupidity, and/or heedless willfulness. For a man such as Mr. Hernandez, I would concede that no gun law is likely to make any difference. If he is eventually found guilty, he owns it.