Posted on 03/20/2012 7:00:02 PM PDT by marktwain
A civil rights group wants the state to suspend the concealed carry permit of George Zimmerman as investigators probe the shooting death of black teenager Trayvon Martin.
But Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, whose agency oversees concealed weapons permits, said he can't do anything without pending criminal charges or a felony conviction. In Florida, felons are not allowed to carry concealed weapons without restoration of their civil rights and firearm authority.
State law also prevents Putnam's agency from identifying people who have applied for or received a permit, so he can't specifically talk about Zimmerman as a permit holder.
"My office is legally bound to fiercely protect the privacy of concealed weapon permit holders," Putnam said Tuesday when asked about the group's demand. "There are specific legal triggers that result in suspension or revocation."
The Florida Civil Rights Association has planned a Wednesday protest at the department's regional licensing office in Orlando anyway.
"The public believes that Mr. Zimmerman is not fit to maintain his license because he has demonstrated to be a clear threat to public safety," the group's president, J. Willie David III, said in a statement.
No one from the group has responded to emails and phone calls for comment.
Zimmerman told police in Sanford that he shot Martin, who died with a bullet wound to his chest, in self-defense, a key part of Florida's seven-year-old "Stand Your Ground" law. Zimmerman's call to 911 dispatcher, released last week, suggests he pursued Martin even though the dispatcher told him not to, spurring increased national outrage over the Feb. 26 incident. Martin was carrying a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea.
Putnam spokesman Sterling Ivey said it is not common for complaints to be filed against concealed carry weapons permit holders. Once a complaint is filed it is investigated by the licensing division and, if needed, the department's law enforcement arm.
Here's what state law says about suspending or revoking a permit holder's license:
The department shall revoke a license if the licensee has been found guilty of, had adjudication of guilt withheld for, or had imposition of sentence suspended for one or more crimes of violence within the preceding three years.
The department shall suspend a license if the licensee is arrested or formally charged with a felony. The suspension will last until the case is over.
The department shall suspend a license if the licensee is issued an injunction that restrains him or her from committing acts of domestic violence or acts of repeat violence.
Other grounds for suspension/revocation include sustaining a physicial disability that makes handling a weapon safely impossible and being committed to a mental institution.
So you think this 28 year old was purposely gunning for black kids?
For fun or something?
You realize what’s about to happen to his life?
≤}B^)
We all know the answer to that question already. This "Florida Civil Rights Association" is nothing more than your run-of-the-mill leftist pack pushing their agenda of racial grievance and Marxist ideology under the usual happy-crap doublespeak of "social justice".
This will make it a little more difficult for the klan with the tan wannabe lynchers.
I think he went looking for trouble and he found it. What happens to him now is his own doing.
They aren't going to believe anything but what they want to believe.
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...the shooter is hispanic and they are saying the case has obvious racial aspects. I dont see any except the races of the participants, both being minorities.
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The press has ONE enemy. And only one. That enemy is any conservative. If you go to the link - you’ll see journalists talking to each other when they think only fellow journalists are in the room. To say ‘dripping with contempt’ would be an understatement. They hate us. One man has done consulting work for the New York Times - the other man is a journalism professor.
They didn’t know a conservative was in the room taping the conversation. This will make it all clear...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBFOmUXR080
From what I understand, he went looking for criminals in his neighborhood.
Do you have evidence that he did otherwise?
You’re right, ‘most inter-racial murders involve black assailants and white victims with blacks murdering whites at 18 times the rate that whites murder blacks’... but the MSM doesn’t care. If you follow the link - you’ll see why - in their own words.
The press has ONE enemy. And only one. That enemy is any conservative. If you go to the link - youll see journalists talking to each other when they think only fellow journalists are in the room. To say dripping with contempt would be an understatement. They hate us. One man has done consulting work for the New York Times - the other man is a journalism professor.
They didnt know a conservative was in the room taping the conversation. This will make it all clear...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBFOmUXR080
No, I do not consider it a win at this time, and you do not have the precise details of what occurred.
Why should I believe this man wanted to, sought to kill, and meant to kill a kid on the phone doing nothing else whatsoever?
Why should I believe that? Where is the proof of his intent?
I have always found it suspect that all civil rights are restored by an application, (jury service, voting, holding certain positions), however the second amendment has a totally seperate and distinct path to restoration.
Here are some facts that just developed.
ABC radio news just reported @ 1:00 pm cst that “George Zimmerman was stalking the boy and that he muttered something under his breath which many believe was a racial slur.”
Who reported that to authorities? Who heard Zimmerman mutter anything much less a racial slur? Am I to believe that the girl on the phone heard Zimmerman stalking and muttering racial slurs?
What is going on here is that the US media is trying to spark a race riot.
I couldn’t care less about the media or race debate. I just want to know how a 17 YO ended up dead. The rest is BS to me.
I understand that, and I also understand a few other things.
1. He’s dead because something occured between him and Zimmerman, and the details aren’t clear.
2. Police did not arrest him. Stand Your Ground DOES NOT allow for murder. There is a reason he wasn’t and still isn’t.
3. The US media is trying to take advanatge of the lack of details and whip people into race riots.
Now I have my own questions I’d like answered.
1. I’ve heard that he went to buy candy. Why was he in a gated community?
2. If he was in a gated community, who let him past the gate?
3. Does he have family in the gated community?
4. His family’s lawyer said he ducked into a condo to take shelter form the rain. Was he trespassing? Did he break in?
5. Why was he wearing a hoody? People in places where they don’t belong wearing hoods arouse suspicion. I have seen black people in my own neighborhood that don’t live here wearing hoods on HOT days, and by God I was suspicious of them. If that makes me a racist then so be it.
1a Obviously. What actually transpired is what is in dispute. I already said what I suspect and time will tell if I am correct or not.
2a This case has absolutely nothing to do with stand your ground although the media and opponents of the legislation would like otherwise. The police have not charged the shooter because there has been no evidence to date to dispute his account of the shooting. The police have made that clear from day one and they have also said if such evidence is uncovered they will charge him. Obviously that is made much harder given the only other witness is now dead.
3A. Agreed. This is to be expected. The "news" is based on their own agenda, as usual and is best ignored or taken with a grain of salt.
1B,2B,3B I believe early finding was that he was there to visit father although not certain of that.
If you see something in your neighborhood that arouses suspicion you can always report it to the police. I wouldn't take it upon myself to challenge the suspicious one or engage him unless someone was at risk of imminent injury. Until we know otherwise, the dead guy had every right to be where he was and we already know the shooter went out of his way, against the request of the 911 operator, ending in a confrontation. My own belief is he actually went out of his way to instigate a confrontation but we shall see. If it turns out he did, that should not sit well with anyone.
I'll go out on a limb here.
As the Sanford police have stated, they already did their investigation and didn't find anything to charge Zimmerman with.
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