No one would have thought of Gilbert Arenas as being a knowing law breaker, yet Mike Jones of The Washington Times is reporting that the Washington Wizards point guard is the target of an investigation by the NBA and his team for posibly violating league rules in regard to weapons possession.

The report first came to light over at CBSSports.com, and the team issued a statement which stated:

“The Washington Wizards have learned that Gilbert Arenas stored firearms in a locked container in his locker, unloaded and without ammunition. The Wizards organization and Arenas promptly notified the local authorities and the NBA and are cooperating fully with law enforcement during its review of this matter and will have no further comment at this time.”

In a phone interview with the Times, Arenas said that he had guns at his home, but with the recent birth of his child, he decided that he didn’t want the weapons to where his kids didn’t have access to them. On December 10, Arenas brought them to Verizon Center, where he stored them in his lockbox until he could figure out what to do with them. About a week later, he turned the weapons over to team security and asked that they be turned over to Washington, D.C. police.

According to Arenas:

“I wouldn’t have brought them to D.C. had I known the rules. After my daughter was born, I was just like, I don’t need these anymore. I don’t want them around the kids. We are working with the league and the authorities.”

The NBA permits players to have guns, but does not allow them to be on league property or during league business. Arenas faces a fine or suspension from the league, but a ruling has not been issued as of this post. I think that after the full investigation is completed, I expect Arenas to be cleared and things to be back to normal.

Just bear in mind that Arenas’ situation is night-and-day different than weapons cases that recently involved Sebastian Telfair in 2006 and Delonte West this year.

Telfair was fined an undisclosed amount of money by the league for a gun that was registered under his girlfriend’s name was found on the Portland Trail Blazers’ team plane at Boston’s Logan International Airport while the Cleveland Cavaliers’ West is currently facing weapons charges in September and indicted on two counts of carrying a dangerous weapon, two counts of carrying a handgun, two counts of transporting a handgun, a count of reckless driving and a count of negligent driving; West’s case is still pending.