Former National Football League star Plaxico Burress, just released from prison on a gun charge, is pledging to give his all in convincing young people that guns mean only trouble, says New York Daily News columnist Michael Daly. Burress is said to have been carrying a gun in 2007 as protection against a crew of stickup kids known as the Street Family who started out robbing rap stars and moved on to professional athletes outside nightclubs.
Burress says he will use his celebrity status to dissuade young people from seeking street stardom with the power of a gun. His time behind bars does not seem to have constituted much of a deterrent. Nor does anything else the law can muster, says Daly: “The cops make thousands of arrests a year, and too many kids just keep carrying guns. So what if even celebrities got prison time…?” Said Burress: “I know I won’t be able to save everybody, but if I could just help a child.”