Free Republic

I’ve watched the “Stand Up to ‘Stand Your Ground’” PSA several times now. The PSA features a dramatic reenactment of the encounter between George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin. While the PSA uses actual audio from George’s non-emergency call and witness 911 calls, the visual details of the reenactment are wildly inaccurate and they are unsupported by the actual evidence. By airing an interpretation of events that are easily dismissed as factual fantasy, the proponents for changes in the self-defense statutes in various states are actually damaging their arguments. I have stated that Florida Statute 776 can use some polishing to...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) Effective campaign spot, or shameless exploitation of a dead teen? One month after a jury acquitted George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence has released a new ad that uses a dramatic reenactment of Martin's death to call for an end to so-called "stand your ground" laws. The ad overlays actual 911 calls from Zimmerman and a witness in re-imagining the incident, which took place in Florida. As the video ends, "Martin" is shown lying prone, dead on the ground, along with other bodies intended to represent victims of gun violence...

As the number of street crimes committed in Baltimore City escalates, so does the level of fear. This has caused communities to look beyond the police for protection. In Baltimore City there are four special tax districts where residents pay more to make their neighborhoods safer. Charles Village is one of them and has the lowest surtax of the four. It was formed in the mid-1990s as a way for the community to provide supplemental security and sanitation services to what the city was already providing. The surtax charged to homeowners has never been altered. Baltimore’s Little Italy community is...

There is no question that George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin. There is no question that things would have ended better if Zimmerman had heeded counsel from 911 personnel and restrained himself from following Martin into the bowels of the residential complex. There is no question that Zimmerman had juiced himself into fear and hysteria on the speculation that Martin was “on something” and was necessarily “up to no good,” but a bag of Skittles and a can of Arizona iced tea is hardly loot from a terminating burglary. However, there is big contention about what happened when Zimmerman caught up...

A little heralded Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy study holds some devastating news for those who are trying to take guns from America’s population. Here are the facts the study found. The overall message of the report is that nations with private gun ownership have less crime. In the period 1991 to 2011 gun ownership rose steadily; murders by guns fell 39% and firearms related crimes dropped 69%. The nine European countries with the fewest guns have a combined murder rate three times higher than the nine European countries with the most guns in private hands. With rare...

"Life can be a crapshoot. Even if you have a high level of situational awareness, and you go out of your way to avoid bad parts of town after dark, you still might find yourself unexpectedly confronted at some point in your life by a thug or a "gangsta" wielding a knife or a gun. Tonight, an expert in hand-to-hand combat shows us a couple of basic but highly effective self-defense techniques that will have your attacker saying "uh-oh!" H/T smalldeadanimals

In the last installment, I said that it was the coach who sent the prosecution team in to try to win a game that never should have been played. The police had determined they didn’t have probable cause. The highly respected state’s attorney who had responsibility for the case, Norman Wolfinger, apparently agreed. When the plaintiff-orchestrated cause celebre created public outcry, Wolfinger scheduled the matter for the grand jury. But Florida Governor Rick Scott turned it over to Angela Corey, the state’s attorney for the Jacksonville area, to act as special prosecutor. Some have blamed Scott for this. I can’t,...

George Zimmerman should be disarmed. If ever a man deserved to be shunned by society, it is pudgy Georgie Zimmerman. And in some quarters, he is. Unfortunately, there are enough of his ilk around – the big guns who run the National Rifle Association, conservative talk radio Obama haters and others – who quickly and emphatically drew the besieged Floridian into their warm and fuzzy protective cocoon of right-wing fanaticism. The ink was not even dry on the long-delayed Zimmerman arrest warrant when the NRA brass leaped to his defense because he fulfilled their classic gunfighter role model — a...

On Feb. 26, 2012 in Sanford, Florida there was a shooting that would, for whatever reason, transfix this country and pressure how we as a nation understand our natural right to self-defense. I am of course referring to the shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. It’s not my intention here to pour over the details of this case — I’m sure we have all heard those, time and time again. I personally have no desire to hear them again. Rather, I want to look at what we can learn, as a community of gun owners and concealed carry holders,...

It would seem obvious, wouldn't it, that Trayvon Martin is dead because he was a black boy in the wrong part of town? I think most reasonable people know that all blacks are periodically subjected to being stopped for "driving while black" or even "walking while black." There's hardly a study done anywhere by anybody that doesn't show that type of thing to be a common and unfair occurrence in the black community. Statistical abuse of minorities is well-documented. Me, personally, I say Trayvon Martin is dead for two reasons and neither specifically because of his race. He's dead because...

Vermont authorities have determined that the June 16 shooting death of a Hudson Falls man who was killed as he was stabbing his ex-girlfriend at a home in western Vermont was "justifiable homicide" and no charges will be filed. Vermont State Police announced Friday night that the man who shot 29-year-old Aaron Allen as he stabbed his former girlfriend at her home in Danby, Vt., was "legally justified" to take action as she was attacked. Michael White, 24, of Danby, Vt., shot Allen twice with a .30-06-caliber rifle, and Allen died the next day at Rutland Regional Medical Center in...

The Gulfport, Florida Police released a video a couple of weeks ago from a school bus surveillance camera that shows three, weed-dealing black teenaged thugs beating the shitake out of one, thirteen-year-old white kid. It was an unholy smack down of demonic proportions. If you haven’t seen it you can watch the gruesome video here. Satan must be so proud. The kid got his clocked cleaned because he told his school officials that the three, black teens tried to sell him a dime bag of weed. After they pummeled him, breaking his arm and blackening his eyes, they stole his...

Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin is facing a firestorm of criticism after sending letters to hundreds of organizations trying to find out the depth of their relationship with the American Legislative Exchange Council. The senator’s interest in ALEC is based on the stand your ground legislation that has become a focal point for liberal activists and lawmakers after the George Zimmerman trial in Florida. But his hometown newspaper, The Chicago Tribune, editorialized that the inquiries looked like “Durbin’s enemies list.” In the August 6 letter sent to think tanks and corporations, Durbin wrote, “I am seeking clarification whether organizations that...

The Florida Sheriffs Association is no longer neutral on the state's controversial "stand your ground" law. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, the new president of the association, announced Friday that members agreed earlier this week without opposition to support the law "as currently written." "Our current judicial system is comprised of multiple checks and balances to ensure fair and equitable application of all laws, including ‘stand your ground,'" Judd said in a prepared statement. When the National Rifle Association-backed law was approved in 2005, the association remained neutral on the issue. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Fort Walton Beach Republican who...

While there were two lawyers at the defense table, there were three at the State’s: Bernie de la Rionda, John Guy, and Richard Mantei. With about a hundred lawyers to pick from, knowing her office would be in the spotlight, State’s Attorney Angela Corey wouldn’t have put anyone on the team she thought would make her look bad. Mantei was third chair, and the lowest guy on the totem pole gets the scut work in any organization. For instance, he was the one they sent in to argue that the state had proven its case when it hadn’t during the...

Watching the Zimmerman trial in 2013 was like watching the OJ Simpson trial in 1995: while the general public got a hell of an education on how these things work thanks to live TV trial coverage, those “in the business” were assessing the skills and strategies of the key players. The face of the defense was that of a two-man team, Mark O’Mara and Don West. The general consensus was that they did a helluva good job, and that O’Mara was the best lawyer in the courtroom during that trial. Some criticized him for not being harsher on some witnesses;...

Hypothetical situation; you have just been sent to some brutal, Stalinist, dictatorial place where you can’t bring your gun. Think Uganda, Somalia or Illinois. Upon arrival your host properly adheres to good gun owner-guest protocol and offers you your choice of one of his two guns for your bedside piece. Those guns are a Ruger 10/22 in .22 rimfire or a Walther PP in .32 ACP. Which do you choose? Now you know what a bedside piece is designed to do and that’s keep you and your patch safe against bad guys. It could be inside the home or outside...

Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford announced Friday that he will order hearings this fall on the state’s “stand your ground” law, a victory for the young protesters known as the Dream Defenders who have spent the past two weeks protesting at the Capitol. . . They shouldn’t celebrate too hard. Weatherford assigned the task of chairing the hearings to a staunch supporter of the law, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach. “I don’t support changing one damn comma of the stand your ground law,” Gaetz said Friday. “It would be reactionary and dangerous to make Floridians less safe to pacify...

The 2012 killing of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin has led to various rallies, boycotts, and even songs. Now, the NAACP is leading the way in an effort to force legal changes across the United States in an attempt to prevent another similar situation. The NAACP created "Trayvon's Law," a series of legislative policies that aims to "end racial profiling, repeal stand your ground laws, form effective civil complaint review boards to provide oversight of police misconduct, improve training for community watch groups, mandate law enforcement to collect data on homicide cases involving non-whites, and address the “school to prison pipeline,...

Feels like a surprise after so much media angst over the role of “Stand Your Ground” in Zimmerman’s acquittal — which was close to zero, by the way — but this isn’t a surprise really. Thirty-one states have SYG laws or a limited variation on them, the “Castle Doctrine” that limits SYG to your own home. Go figure that a majority of voters would endorse them when asked. White voters support “Stand Your Ground” laws 57 – 37 percent while black voters are opposed 57 – 37 percent. Men support these laws 62 – 34 percent while women are divided...