[ExTxMarine]

Everybody forgets that Zimmerman was functioning as a neighborhood watch volunteer.

I need to make a slight correction to your post. Zimmerman was NOT functioning as a neighborhood watch volunteer during this situation. He was out on a personal errand and saw something which caught his eye and as a concerned CITIZEN he initiated calls to the police (on a non-911 number) to describe the scene.

I point this out because if he was on "neighborhood watch" then I think Zimmerman would have been arrested on the night of the incident. Since he would have failed to follow the rules and standards of the neighborhood watch program - no guns allowed. If that was the situation, I think the police would have arrested him because they could then show that he was actually acting as a self-appointed "policeman." That would have completely changed the perspective of the police department - I think.

The fact that Zimmerman did, in the past, make rounds as a neighborhood watch volunteer have no bearing on this particular situation. The media points this out as a way of discouraging people to act in their own defense and to discourage home owners from establishing neighborhood watch programs.

[Tublecane]

“then I think Zimmerman would have been arrested on the night of the incident. Since he would have failed to follow the rules and standards of the neighborhood watch program - no guns allowed”

Those are just rules, though, right? I don’t assume it’s illegal for neighborhood watchmen to carry weapons. Breaking the rules oughtn’t to remove your right to self-defense. I suppose it could tip the scales in favor of supposing you were out looking for trouble and therefore probably started the fight. But then the preponderance of evidence should also show that, and not in the manner that Zimmerman leaving his car is pretended to prove he started it.

What I’m saying is, it would only be one out of many bits of evidence. After all, don’t vigilantes get to defend themselves, too, so long as others attack them? Even if they’re out looking for a fight, I mean, and through discipline restrict themselves to waiting for a fight to come to them. Or is that a form of entrapment?

[maxwellsmart_agent]

You can make up your own story as you wish, but it is at odds with everything I read in the news. Where does it say that if you have a permit to carry, that you are prohibited to carry while on neighborhood watch? Our neighborhood watch has no such rule, nor does any that I know of.

The news reported that his call was to 911 on several occasions. In fact they have repeatedly reported that he told the 911 operator that he was following the kid and the operator said ‘we don’t need you to do that’.

Zimmerman was heading back to his vehicle when he was approached by Martin. Martin was aggresive and punched Zimmerman in the face and knocked him to the ground. Then Martin jumped on top of him and repeatedly slammed his head into the sidewalk. Zinmmerman’s shirt pulled up in the struggle and the gun became apparent. They both reached for the gun and Martin got the slide and Zimmerman got the handle according to the news.

The gun fired but the next round did not chamber because Martin had ahold of the slide, according to the news account. If I have it wrong, it is because the news got it wrong.

I am passing only what I read in the news as fact. If it is wrong, I am sorry, but I have nothing else to go on.