Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow surprised his offensive linemen with an unusual gift, presenting each of them with an authentic Katana sword from Japan. However, in discussing his choice, he seemed to take a pretty firm stance on guns.
During a press conference this weekend, Burrow explained his decision to gift Katana swords, revealing that his teammates had originally requested guns.
Burrow, however, refused to purchase guns for his teammates.
“Well, they wanted guns,” Burrow said after the game, according to Fox News. “And I was like, ‘I don’t know about guns, guys.’ So I was in the weapon mindset, and I was like, ‘What’s a cool weapon?’ Samurai swords, I think, are pretty dang cool.”
His teammates expressed their appreciation for the gesture, with Bengals right guard Alex Cappa going as far as to call it “my favorite gift I’ve ever gotten by far.”
However, Burrow’s refusal to purchase guns for his teammates was widely interpreted as a stance against firearms, which led to a lot of reactions on social media.
“So politically correct you couldn’t even get the gift that his line wanted,” one person wrote on X.
“Breaking: Joe Burrow is anti-2A!” another person added.
“Why wouldn’t he buy them guns?” someone else said.
“Should have gone with guns, what’s the point of a sword especially when they wanted guns,” another person wrote.
“Pathetic. He should have bought them guns,” someone else wrote.
“No guns? Early candidate for lib of the year,” another person added.
“He is pro-choice and spoke up during the Floyd protests, his political leanings have been known for a while,” someone else added.
“OK he’s definitely a Dem,” another person suggested.
“Dude really wouldn’t get them an AR. Instead you get a sword you can hang on a mantle and never use. Woohoo,” someone else replied.
Although Burrow has not explicitly stated his political beliefs, many fans are reading between the lines here.
