Jaguars wideout arrested for stolen gun

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - "Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Charles Sharon was charged with stealing a handgun that police said was found under the seat of the player's sport utility vehicle during a drug-related search.

Sharon and a companion were arrested Saturday night after a Tampa police officer noticed the odor of marijuana coming from Sharon's SUV parked in the Ybor City entertainment district, a police report said.

A search of the vehicle turned up a Glock Model 27 handgun under the driver's seat. Tampa police reported that the gun was stolen last year from a federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent in Putnam County, but an ATF spokesman said Monday that the weapon belonged to an agent of the state Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco.

An official of that agency did not immediately return a phone call Monday.

Police spokeswoman Lisa Parashis said it was unclear how Sharon got the agent's gun.

Sharon was charged with grand theft of a firearm and carrying a concealed firearm, both felonies. He was released Sunday morning after paying a $4,000 bond, jail records showed."

I am of so very many minds on this subject it's difficult to sort it out. So a cop smells grass and searches the mans car. Uncool. They find a stolen G-27. Uncool for Sharon. Why an ATF actor would be carrying a sub-compact Glock is unclear, unless it was his backup piece; ATF'ers usually don't but perhaps this one did. Unclearcool.

Grand theft of a firearm, PLUS carrying a firearm without a permit, and the man is released on $4000 bail? TWO felonies? Forget the fact that he should not have needed a license, just for a moment. The gun was hot, and one he probably bought on the street, which is stupid. Someone earning his kind of money doesn't need to buy a stolen piece, and why he didn't just obtain one legally then go for the permit is beyond me.

On the other hand, football players are dumb. Really dumb. Obviously really dumb. Yes, many of the laws DO need to be changed, but now this idiot will never be able to legally buy or carry a gun. This isn't some little old lady holding on to a gun her great uncle Mortimer left her in his will; you know, the sort of little old lady the police love breaking into the house of then beating and/or killing for having a gun. This is a grown man who could have done the right thing, and for the umpteenth time, sure the laws suck, but changing them is always preferable to breaking them whenever possible.

One thing's for sure.

He's damn lucky he wasn't some defenseless little old lady.