Thanks, I was beginning to feel lonely. The first reports mentioned Zimmerman’s gun (semiautomatic) as recovered by the police, having a full magazine and an empty shell case in the chamber. The only way I could see that happening is Martin grabbing the gun with his left hand over the slide while he tried to wrestle the gun from Zimmerman. If Zimmerman had his finger in the trigger guard and Martin yanked the gun back towards his chest, it is probable that he in fact shot himself in the chest. The gun fired while he was holding the slide in place which prevented the empty from being ejected and a live round from being loaded into the chamber.
It would be very interesting to see if Martin had nitrate residue on his left palm and forearm. . . .
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While I wonder about the powder residue and agree with your probable assessment, the powder residue does not prove anything accept that what Zimmeran said COULD have happened. Martin could have just as well been trying to keep Zimmerman from shooting him and the evidence results would be the same.
Perhaps, however I would think that if Martin was trying to block the pistol he would have pushed it sideways to deflect the point of aim. Of course then the gun would have cycled and the spent shell casing ejected. He would have done better to push back on the slide, taking it out of battery, as that would keep the gun from firing. In which case the shell in the chamber would still be live as no shot occurred. Odds are that he had his hand gripping the slide (which kept it from cycling properly) and was trying to pull it out of Zimmerman's hand. Bad idea! Given that either man could have fired the gun we will never know for certain, even Zimmerman can't know for sure.
I like the irony of him shooting himself, it makes a strong point about gang bangers (being relatively low wattage...).
Regards,
GtG