Gun safety should be important

This just in: Don’t play with guns, especially if you’re drunk.

Unfortunately for former… This just in: Don’t play with guns, especially if you’re drunk.

Unfortunately for former New Jersey Nets center Jayson Williams, that advice came too late — not that he would’ve adhered to it anyway.

Williams’ defense attorney, Billy Martin, continues in his attempts to convince jurors that the shooting death of chauffeur Costas “Gus” Christofi was accidental. Williams is currently facing seven charges, including aggravated manslaughter and witness tampering. If convicted on all counts, he could face up to 55 years in prison.

As of now, experts have determined that debris found in the 12-gauge Browning shotgun could have caused it to fire without the trigger being pulled.

Be that as it may, why was Williams, who, according to testimony, had alcohol in his blood, fooling around with a shotgun in the middle of the night?

To make matters worse, witnesses have come forward stating that Williams tampered with evidence to make the shooting look like a suicide. John Gordnick and Kent Culuko, both friends of Williams, have agreed to testify against Williams in exchange for a plea-bargain deal.

Prosecutors have painted a pretty ugly picture of Williams, while the defense maintains that this was nothing more than an accident.

The truth is that this was far from the first time that Williams had a mishap that involved firearms. This was in no way an isolated incident.

Back in 1994, Williams was charged with reckless endangerment after he accidentally fired a .45 caliber pistol and a bullet struck an unoccupied vehicle in a parking lot. He avoided a felony conviction by agreeing to talk to high school students about guns, and placing advertisements in a New Jersey newspaper.

Williams’ fun ‘n’ gun antics didn’t stop there.

While target shooting on his rifle range, he accidentally fired his gun only inches away from New York Jets star Wayne Chrebet, leaving the wide receiver knocked out, with gunpowder on his face.

In his autobiography, titled “Loose Balls” — “Loose Cannon” might have been a more fitting title — Williams admitted to getting drunk and aiming an unloaded gun at former NBA player Manute Bol’s uncle.

And as if that weren’t enough, in 2001, Williams really lost control.

According to court documents, Williams spent a night drinking with former teammate Dwayne Schintzius. After losing a bet that had something to do with his rottweiler, Zeus, Williams shot the dog twice with a double-barrel shotgun. According to Schintzius, after the second blast decapitated the animal, Williams then reloaded the shotgun, pointed it at him and said, “get this (expletive deleted) dog off my porch or you’re next.”

Even with his past cases of showing a blatant disregard for human life, Williams still might get off scot-free. Check that; this incident will cost him, and more than just legal fees. He’s already settled a wrongful death suit with Christofi’s family for a reported $2.75 million. Williams says that he felt it was the right thing to do. But if he was so worried about doing the right thing, why not come forward and tell the truth from the beginning instead of trying to rub Christofi’s fingerprints on the gun and make it look like a suicide?

No, Williams is not looking to do the right thing. With his warped mind, I doubt he even knows what it means to do the right thing. We’re talking about a man who allegedly shot his dog’s head off and then turned the gun on his friend. I’d hate to be his enemy.

Williams likes to live life on the wild side, to fly by the seat of his pants, so to speak. Only this rich guy-turned-bad boy poses a serious danger to society. He’s not just another athlete who indulges himself in sex, drugs and alcohol. His fetish is mixing alcohol and guns, and that is a deadly combination, to say the least.

A few weeks back, Williams sat down for an interview with Barbara Walters in which he confessed that he was “terrified” at the possibility of going to prison.

“I have a beautiful family,” Williams said. “I want to be here for my family. I want to be here for my baby. I want to see the birth of my baby. Hopefully it’s a boy. He can play for St. John’s. I don’t want to ever leave my family over this accident.”

I’m sure Christofi had a beautiful family that he didn’t want to leave either. I bet he thought he had a pretty decent gig as the chauffeur for a former NBA star. His life was unjustly cut short, and Williams does not deserve to walk free.

Regardless of how State Superior Judge Edward M. Coleman rules in this case, Williams will never be found not guilty in the court of public opinion.

Do you think Williams has learned from all of his bad experiences with firearms?

“There are no mistakes in life; there are just lessons,” Williams said. “And I continue to learn every day.”

He didn’t learn fast enough.

Not fast enough for his dog.

And certainly not fast enough for Costas Christofi.

Ryan Walker is a senior staff writer for The Pitt News and can be reached at rpw973@pitt.edu.