NFL Exec: ‘No Place in Professional Football’ for Finger Gun Gestures

National Football League (NFL) executive Troy Vincent weighed in on finger gun gestures, saying, “There’s no place in professional football for that,” Ian Rapoport reported.

Vincent’s comments, made at the league meeting in Atlanta, come as the NFL officials have been increasingly penalizing players for gestures the league does not condone.

The NFL has faced vocal opposition over this crackdown.

For example, on October 4, 2024, Breitbart News reported that Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce addressed the NFL’s increased calls against finger gun gestures, saying, “It’s my Second Amendment.”

Kelce was responding to a 15-year-old unsportsmanlike conduct penalty thrown against New York Jets wide receiver Allen Lazard. The penalty was the result of Lazard allegedly using a finger gun gesture.

New York Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton has also voiced opposition to the finger gun crackdown, as he believes there is a double standard in the way penalties are meted out.

FOX News reported that Slayton was penalized in an October 6 game against the Seattle Seahawks after he “used his fingers to gesture a first down after hauling in a massive 41-yard catch.”

“Dallas Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster all celebrated first downs this past week with the same gesture Slayton used,” Fox noted. However, neither Lamb, Mahomes, nor Smith-Schuster were penalized.

Slayton observed, “It’s cool when they do it.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, a Pulsar Night Vision pro-staffer, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly: awrhawkins@breitbart.com.