Posted on 04/27/2012 10:12:27 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Since the Feb. 26 shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, racial backlash concerning the incident has consumed the media. Many suggest that Martin’s death stems from an inherent suspicion in this country of young black males. Others disagree with this assessment, citing that Zimmerman is Hispanic and therefore a minority himself.
While I do not deny the significant role race played in Martin’s death, a key element of the case has seemingly gone unnoticed – 28-year-old George Zimmerman, Martin’s shooter, was unnecessarily armed with a 9 mm pistol.
Regardless of Martin’s race and Zimmerman’s intentions, why was a 9 mm handgun in play? Is this a necessary weapon to carry when on neighborhood watch? Zimmerman apparently thought so, but I beg to differ.
The instant a gun is introduced in any sort of altercation – violent or otherwise – the parties involved are invited to act with increased aggression, citing self-defense as their reasoning. Zimmerman’s defense, based on the Stand Your Ground law in Florida, follows this pattern.
According to the law, an individual without a weapon may react violently even if a gun isn’t directly pointed at them. A mere glimpse at a hidden gun can leave one party feeling defenseless and as though the threat on their life has been raised.
Further, personally owned guns are notoriously turned against the very individual who owns them. According to a study done by Director of RAND Health Arthur Kellermann, a member of a household where a gun is present is almost three times as likely to be a victim of homicide compared to gun-free households. The question of malicious intent thus becomes futile because both parties are apparently operating under the pretenses of self-defense. In short, the presence of such a weapon elevates a dispute past the point of no return.
It is for these reasons that a gun has no place in a neighborhood watch program. Intent aside, my feeling of safety would greatly decline if I knew that an armed neighbor was patrolling the streets of my neighborhood.
Zimmerman’s use of a gun as a means of protection becomes all the more trivial with the knowledge that he was in close vicinity to his vehicle. Was this vehicle a too-passive form of defense in the event of conflict? Zimmerman apparently thought so, but again I disagree.
It’s also safe to say that the added precaution of a fellow volunteer would have been more effective than the defense provided by a weapon. Zimmerman clearly felt that his volunteer position put him at enough risk to warrant carrying a gun. So how could he possibly be in a secure-enough position to be on duty alone?
The contradicting accounts of what actually happened on the night that Trayvon Martin was shot have left this case muddled and unclear. Police reports and witnesses from the Florida neighborhood, Martin’s girlfriend and Zimmerman’s father all cling to varying portrayals of the same story. What remains as the trigger of these events, however, is the faulty decision George Zimmerman made to carry a gun that February night.
God granted rights to persons. Persons granted POWERS to governments. Governments don't have rights. People do.
Good luck with your speech. And thank you for that service for freedom.
/johnny
One of the many good articles written debunking Kellerman’s findings. http://guncite.com/gun-control-kellermann-3times.html
Just do a search in yahoo or google asking “Kellerman study debunked” and you’ll see many more.
This “study” was written with his end result already known and the research was done to prove his findings not the other way around. This is the kind of crap that Michael Moore does with his crockumentaries.
Arab isn’t a race - alleged Babydaddy BHO1 was a negro with muslim/arabic ethnicity thrown in.
I smell some "unnecessary" free speech.
I don’t know what kind of friggin fool wrote this tripe, but the fact is that if Zimmerman had not had a gun , he would be the one that 6 carried to the grave.
I was reading a story by Robert Howard (Conan creator) and he had the term “Octoroon” in it, upon looking it up, it means basically 1/8 Black.
There is also Quadroon (1/4) and Mulatto (1/2 as in Obama).
Amazing that this used to be tracked and common terms, and me as a “racist” conservative did not know the term (I knew Mulatto).
According to the law, an individual without a weapon may react violently even if a gun isn’t directly pointed at them.What law is that?
Amen to that! I read that Zimmerman initially bought his little Keltech because of problems with a pitbull that was running around the neighborhood and threatening him and his wife when they were out on walks. The police recommended that he not use pepperspray but rather buy a gun that would work on taking down the crazy dog if necessary. Voila!
I’d go one step further and use the phrase “Constitutionally guaranteed” interchangeably with “protected”.
Your right not to be tortured by your Government is “Constitonally guaranteed/protected”. It’ll keep you from using one word too often. It will also plant the idea that the Constitution applies to them personally.
Just a thought.
Liberals live in a dream world. There are no “bad” people. No one ever needs punished. If everyone just loved one another we wouldn’t need anything. But, oh boy, take away their apple products and so help them, they will uprise.
ALL VALID POINTS THAT THE LEFT CARES TO IGNORE....
Dum dum doesn’t know what the second amendment is. She probably does not know what a constitution is. If something makes dum dum emote, it should be banned.
MY AMEX CARD (close to GZ’s Kel-tec 9mm)
Kel-tec .380 w/hollow points. Made in FL, guaranteed for life.
Don’t even know it’s in your pocket. I wouldn’t carry a big thing. So this is better than nothing!
That is the best argument I have heard on disarming police persons.
I posted this on the referenced web site:
“Regardless of Martin’s race and Zimmerman’s intentions, why was a 9 mm handgun in play? Is this a necessary weapon to carry when on neighborhood watch? Zimmerman apparently thought so, but I beg to differ. “
Beg to differ all you want. Mr. Zimmerman was simply exercising his PERSONAL 2nd Amendment right to carry a personal firearm. End of story. Still, it’s a good thing Mr Zimmerman was armed when Mr. Martin snuck up on Mr. Zimmerman while Mr. Zimmerman was attempting to enter his vehicle, and then proceeded to knock Mr. Zimmerman to the pavement and bash Mr. Zimmerman’s head into said pavement until Mr. Zimmerman was forced to shoot Mr. Martin in self-defense in order to stop Mr. Martin from beating Mr. Zimmerman to death. No doubt you would have preferred for Mr. Zimmerman to be defenseless and to be beaten to death by Mr. Martin.
I suggest that everyone who reads this post go make a post there as well.
In this Country, blacks attack whites over... ONE THOUSAND TIMES EVERY SINGLE DAY! Hell Zimmerman should have had two guns.
carry a .380 sometimes 9mm....depends on how i am feeling that day....lol...
It is obvious that you do not know a thing about Hispanics, the Viceroyalty of Peru created in 1542 was Spain's first and largest holding in South America spanning from Panama to the Antarctic circle in southern Chile all the way east to where the Portuguese held what would become Brazil. That vast area was held until 1824. Never forget the Spaniards conquered almost all of the new world and held it for over 300 years at one point with the exception of far eastern Brazil the Spaniards held lands from Washington state /Oregon to the Mississippi river to include New Orleans all of Meso America and all of South America except east Brazil for hundreds of years. Hispanics are an ethnicity tracing their roots to these Spanish Colonial times some one from Peru is almost certainly Hispanic in ethnicity and there is a good chance they are of racially Iberian Spaniard as well at least the upper classes in South America only marry into other European racial bloodlines. His mother is most likely Mestizos being a product of Spaniard and Amerindian mixing. Which means Zimmerman is a Zambos being of Mestizos and Black mixing. Iberian Spaniards have a system of classifying all our half, quarter and eightlings. Anything less than an 8th mixed with a Españoles europeos would be back to being Españoles criollos or a "Americas born Spaniard".
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