And people wonder why professional athletes want to own guns for protection?

While the NFL is fairly anti-gun, football players appear to own guns at a higher rate than the general population.  Well, they not only are victims of violent crime, they are also the recipients of a lot of threats.  From CBS Detroit:

Ever get death threats over a bad day at the office? Thanks to Twitter, it happens to NFL players on a regular basis.
But it’s not just their play on the field that makes fans fly over the edge — overwhelmingly, the nastiest comments come from how that play affects fans’ fantasy football leagues.
Some tweets go beyond wishing harm on players to actually threatening violence. The following tweet targeted superstar Calvin Johnson and quarterback Matthew Stafford. . . .

A list of examples are provided in the story.