Florida players are and aren’t allowed to have weapons, per Dan Mullen. Got that?

The Florida Gators football team has had a few legal issues come up recently. One involved a frying pan wielded as a weapon. Another involved an AR-15 found by police in the backseat of a car, with a player telling cops he had it “for protection because of the locals.”

Those incidents prompted coach Dan Mullen to explain his policy on weapons to reporters on Thursday. You tell me if you’re following along:

“I have a no-weapons policy, but it’s not like you’re not allowed to have a gun,” Mullen said. “We live in a country where that’s one of your rights.”

Plenty of workplaces and schools don’t allow guns in states that otherwise do. The University of Florida generally prohibits their possession on campus, though campus residents can store their guns at the school police station. (The school defers to state law, which can allow for guns to be stored in cars if properly encased.)

Mullen’s policy might ... make that ban more stringent, or somehow extend it extra to team activities? Or maybe it’s just a statement of the obvious, that Mullen can’t prevent his players from having guns when they go home on breaks?

Let’s see if the head coach can clear it up:

“It’s a no-weapons policy in certain situations of how to be educated to not have (issues),” said Mullen, hired last November and tasked with rebuilding an offense that has been stagnant for nearly a decade. “No weapons, that’s easy to remember. If I write out all the different (scenarios) — no weapons in these situations or have a weapon for a hunting situation, if I’m doing this, I store it at this location, I keep it here, I have gun safety rules and knowledge — that’s not a quick catch to them to register in their mind. Does that make sense?”

One of Mullen’s receivers, Josh Hammond, thought the rule was:

“No weapons allowed. That’s been our policy since Coach Mullen got here.”

This would be a good thing for everyone to be on the same page about.