This columnist is calling for a lifetime ban for Arenas as well as a NBA ban on players owning weapons. I think that both stances are reactionary. Arenas is a goofball to be sure and he did something stupid and illegal. But I think the NBA should let whatever legal proceedings occur play themselves out before it considers a lifetime ban.

I'm not at all sure that such a thing would be upheld because it would surely go to arbitration-just as the Sprewell situation did. But even though I might disagree with a lifetime ban I would accept the NBA's right to impose it because it's about something that happened in the workplace. If Arenas is stupid enough to play with guns I would shed no tears for him losing his job.

I would not accept the NBA's right to prevent its players from owning guns. Gun ownership is legal and as long as players who own guns obey the law in whatever state or municipality they happen to be in, it's not the NBA's business. Not only are some players hunters (e.g former player Karl Malone) but many have a real concern about personal protection for themselves and their families. (e.g the incidents with Eddy Curry, Antoine Walker, Sean Taylor, Jerome McDougall, etc)
Lifetime Ban and Gun Ban

"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives."
Winter is Coming

Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.