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I disagree. For all we know had Martin kept walking toward his home, trigger happy Zimmerman would have shot the kid in the back. I'm sorry but this wrongful death falls on Zimmerman for he should have stayed in his damn car and waited for the cops instead of taking matters into his own hands. I guarantee you he's been thinking that to himself ever since it happened.
He probably thought he had the burglar and he would have gotten away if he had sat and waited for police. If it's true that he kept following, it was a bad choice but it doesn't mean he was out to shoot Martin. He could have done that without calling the police.
No, you are wrong. Do you live in Florida? In fact, it was passed after violent crime had dropped dramatically. The homicide rate in Florida was down 10.5% just in the first 6 months of 2005, before this bill was signed into law. In fact, the crime rate fell for 14 consecutive years. Since SYG's passing, justifiable homicides have tripled. Maybe this is why you see Girl Scouts selling cookies in front of Publix instead of going door to door. Maybe one of them might be wearing a hoodie and get shot.
It was passed because Florida got a lot of support from the NRA.
yes, when i worked at Disney (2003-2007), i lived in florida. the law was passed because of the number of home invasions and car jackings. the crime rate falling coincided with the increase of registered gun owners. and yes, justifiable shootings have increased. i am current on the number of dead home invaders in the local news.
it's not wise for young girls to go door to door in FL. you should know this by now. and yes, many dead home invaders wore hoodies. just look at the current prison population.
the NRA is only as powerful as it's members. if the NRA is that powerful, then that means there is large portion of the voting population that supports the NRA.
Yes, most people would shoot to kill, not just point a gun. However, I can't accept 2 claims which contradict each other. (A) Martin was on top of Zimmerman, had him pinned down, and was banging his head on the sidewalk so hard that he was losing consciousness (B) Zimmerman, who wasn't brandishing a weapon, was able to unzip his jacket, reach into his holster, take out the gun, aim it at Martin and shoot him once in the chest.
Except that one of the "punks" had a loaded weapon. The other didn't even have a knife or a rock.
Now this is not a troll post but a serious question: Do you feel the same when someone breaks in to a home and gets shot? That's one of the scariest things here in CA, if you shoot an intruder and they are unarmed you can face jail time. I'd like to know how you're supposed to know whether they are armed or not. In fact there's a thread going around now called "CA approved gun safe" (I believe) that has a video that's really not that far fetched.
It's also mind blowing that some people cannot understand what a black teen might feel when being followed/stalked by a stranger. Any child is told to do whatever it takes to not allow themselves to be accosted or to allow a stranger to get too physically close. There are serial killers that have abducted people and if Zimmerman failed to explain to Trayvon who he was and what he wanted, how is a kid supposed to feel? I don't care how tall Trayvon was, he had the brains and sensibilities of a teen. Black teens are told by their parents not to run because someone might racially profile them and assume that they are running from a crime they committed. How sad! Maybe this is why Trayvon told his girlfiriend he would walk fast as opposed to running when he was on the phone with her.
I love these thinly veiled biased posts that blame both Zimmerman and Martin when clearly Zimmerman was the adult with the gun and history of violence. Really!
Martin was 17, a football player, and appeared to be in very decent physical shape. If, as you claim, fear was his motivating factor, why didn't he just run away from the overweight, middle aged guy following him? His house was 70 yards away. Why would he care if Zimmerman though he was a criminal? A cop can give a lawful order to stop, in which case running would be a bad idea. There is no reason to think that this civilian did so. You're trying to say he was too scared to run away, but not to scared to go to Zimmerman, confront him and get in a fight with him? That dog don't hunt.
My theory (and it's only that) is that he saw Zimmerman, knew he was being followed, got pizzed and went back, or waited for Zimmerman, and confronted him verbally. All very reasonable IMO. It's equally reasonable that Zimmerman, as a neighborhood watch guy, would be following a person that fit the description of those that committed a string of burglaries in the neighborhood. Perhaps not smart, but not illegal, and reasonable to do so at some distance and report his position to the police. It's very possible that had Z seen M walk into an occupied house and seen him welcomed there, that he would have realized he belonged in the neighborhood and it would have ended. What we don't know is how exactly the verbal confrontation started, who initiated the physical confrontation (threw the first punch) and if Z reasonably was in fear for his life.
Exactly what happened...is up to a jury to decide now.
i agree about point A). i doubt the head banging was severe enough to cause him to be inches near death. but zimmerman did suffer injuries and i also don't doubt he was in fear for his life. even without injuries, if i was pinned to the ground with the threat of my weapon getting into the hands of the attacker, i will draw and shoot.
with point B), one doesn't unzip to draw a weapon. from looking at his jacket, it's easy to reach underneath. when i ccw, i untuck my shirt to cover my weapon. i practice drawing my weapon in different positions, including being on the ground. this is standard practice for anyone that ccw's. the main thing is to keep a concealed weapon concealed but within easy access.
BS : this is standard practice for anyone that ccw's
I know quite a few with CCW permits and the only thing they practice is lifting another cold one up!
How easy is it to draw and fire with someone on your chest? Do you practice that?
The unsolved rash of breakins led to a sense of hypervigilance. What exactly happened when those two collided we don't know, but we know why Zimmerman was out there watching the streets.
Zimmerman's assuming a role as volunteer neighborhood watch person was never in question. How he handled the role is why a kid is dead and he is in jail with charges of 2nd degree murder.
Now this is not a troll post but a serious question: Do you feel the same when someone breaks in to a home and gets shot? That's one of the scariest things here in CA, if you shoot an intruder and they are unarmed you can face jail time. I'd like to know how you're supposed to know whether they are armed or not. In fact there's a thread going around now called "CA approved gun safe" (I believe) that has a video that's really not that far fetched.
in GA, we have a castle doctrine that allows killing unarmed home invaders. there was an event where i thought someone broke into my basement, but i didn't go down with my weapon pointed and finger on the trigger, my weapon was on my side facing down with finger off the trigger while i had a flashlight ready on strobe mode. what i feared most was taking the life of someone who was not dangerous, but at that time, i was ready to kill.
BS : this is standard practice for anyone that ccw's
I know quite a few with CCW permits and the only thing they practice is lifting another cold one up!
How easy is it to draw and fire with someone on your chest? Do you practice that?
Wow....it's so funny how some people cherry pick which sweeping generalizations are OK.....
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