Washington Wizards All-Star Gilbert Arenas said he misinterpreted D.C.’s new handgun laws when he stored four weapons at the Verizon Center arena last month.
Those laws appear to create legal jeopardy for Arenas.
Only a resident of D.C. or a security company that operates in the city can register handguns in the District. Arenas lives in Virginia.
The District’s handgun law also prohibits people with prior weapons convictions — even misdemeanors — from being eligible to register a handgun.
In 2003, police in San Francisco found a .40-caliber handgun in the back seat of Arenas’ car during a traffic stop. Arenas pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charges and completed his community service, calling the incident “an oversight.”
Prosecutors in D.C. are investigating whether Arenas’ firearms were properly licensed under District law. Privacy laws prevent officials from revealing whether Arenas is a registered D.C. gun owner.
Arenas said Monday he had a “lapse in judgment” by bringing the guns into the District.
“I brought them [to D.C.] mistakenly believing that the recent change in the D.C. gun laws allowed a person to store unloaded guns in the District,” Arenas said in a statement released by his attorney.
