Antonio Davis is within his rights !

In the article that appears today 01/20/2006 on AOL concerning Antonio Davis, Mr. Aschburner is just wrong. 100 % out to left field wrong. 0 % right and 100 % wrong. In my opinion, every sportwriter hack who takes this position is wrong also. Not to mention ignorant and goofy.


His argument, while grammatically correct, makes no logical sense. The incident did not happen in a vacuum. It cannot be viewed as mutually exclusive of the surroundings, the timing of the event, the time elapsed before security got there, the availability of security or their actual response time to the incident, not to mention his responsibilities and rights as a husband and as a man.

In order to follow the logic of his argument, he uses the player’s position, status, and past actions of other players to morally justify his point of view. In my view, his entire logic tree is built on a false foundation.

In the history of this country, virtually every court throughout time has recognized mans right to protect his life, property, domicile and the safety of his family as a fundamental right. This right exists exclusive of the surroundings.

Mr. Davis’ actions can therefore be viewed no differently than as if they had occurred in his own home, a shopping mall or basically anywhere he judged that his family "may be" in his view, in harms way. That judgement is entirely his to make as long as the action taken by him was reasonable in response to the force or threat that he perceived and could be viewed as a rational act by a reasonable person.

That has nothing at all to do with his status, wealth, or perceived power. It has nothing to do with his status as a professional basketball player. This is where Mr. Aschburner's argument loses steam. The facts do not bear out his point of view. He got to the incident from the floor faster than security did from the aisle. In his argument, basically Steve says, "He just should have let it go". In the words of my teenage daughter- "WHATEVER".

This is ludicrous and is a ridiculous assertion. Now the facts come into play, and for a moment, forget the "what ifs".

Ask yourself one question to get to the answer. Does Antonio Davis, citizen of America, have a right to protect his family or not from any and all perceived threats? Yes or No? If he does then no other questions need to be asked until you ask "Was his response that of a reasonable man, and was his response reasonable in response to the actual threat" If the answer there is Yes, then nothing else matters. Case closed.

I think that if he really wanted to he could sue the NBA and win the pay back from the 5 games based on those two points of logic alone. To advance any other position equates to saying that I or you (as a private citizen) regardless of wealth, status, position or power could not and have no right to protect your own family while in public.

That line of logic is why Mr. Aschburner’s arguments, while well intentioned, is baseless and emotional but not remotely correct. It abandons and abdicates my duty as a husband and father and says I should always let the police protect me.

That is not only a naive and dangerous position to advance, it also is in effect a direct affront to the Constitution of the United States. Specifically the right to self defense and probably the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to it as well as every state and common law covering the subject.