NFL Includes Gun Ownership Conduct in Players' Social Responsibility Training

The NFL has added gun ownership conduct and safety to its annual social responsibility training for players. 

Per espnW.com's Jane McManus, the NFL "pared down and changed" elements of the social responsibility training and added videos—including showing "a drunken driver swerving a car all over the road"—with players being "asked to discuss" afterward.  

The gun conduct portion came about following an offseason in which Denver Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib suffered a gunshot wound to the leg in June and former New Orleans Saints defensive lineman Will Smith was murdered in April.

NFL vice president of social responsibility Anna Isaacson explained to McManus the movement to include gun conduct as part of the training program:

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We've never presented the issue from a social responsibility perspective before. These were crucial societal issues that people just didn't know enough about, and we felt that it was our duty, and it was the right thing to do, to make sure that everyone in the NFL family had the same knowledge, so that we were all on an even playing field and we all had the same information.

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Baltimore Ravens tight end Benjamin Watson noted to McManus that he was glad the NFL added the gun conduct policy as part of the training because "we hear these horror stories all the time about a child that finds a firearm and who shoots and hurts themselves, or kills someone else."

McManus did note that the NFL "has recommended that players stay away from gun ownership," but Watson cited the second amendment as a reason the NFL can't tell players not to own a gun.

Therefore, the league is taking a different approach to things by discussing guns and being a responsible owner of firearms. 

The issue of guns and gun control is certainly a sensitive topic in the United States. The NFL has seen its share of incidents involving gun violence with its players, including the ones previously mentioned, and being able to give them more information to be safe is at least a way of trying to curtail the issue.