<p>As a licensed concealed handgun permit holder, we are instructed in a very detailed manor to </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Not carry unless you have guts to use the weapon (ie, don’t pull it and then not have the intestinal fortitude to pull the trigger if warranted)</p></li>
<li><p>To never draw the weapon if you are not going into direct motion to fire. (ie, if you are going to pull it, it should be a smooth motion of pull and fire. It is not to be used a threat, or a “stop” I have a gun. It is 100% for self protection. You feel death is looking you in the eyes, you draw the weapon and fire)</p></li>
<li><p>You NEVER use deadly force unless confronted by deadly force.</p></li>
<li><p>You have the ability and the mental strength to deal with the death of an individual at your own hand, justified or not.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Martin was unarmed, smaller in general size than Zimmerman and was the hunted, not the hunter. Zimmerman’s actions in my opinion were not only wrong, they were premeditated. Zimmerman had the ability and the 911 instruction to retreat. He hunted Martin. He hunted Trayvon Martin down and took his life. Maybe Trayvon Martin fought. That is what the frightened and scared hunted do. They fight for their lives. But Trayvon Martin would have never fought if not hunted in the first place. And that is even if he ever fought at all. George Zimmerman is a man who is in the mode of self preservation.</p>
<p>“The law is you cannot do anything about somebody acting weird until they actually do something illegal.”</p>
<p>Well, thank heavens for that! And transferring the responsibility for doing something about people “acting weird” (though not illegally) to people who are less trained, and who do not carry the “force of law” hardly seems like a reasonable response to legal weirdness.</p>
<p>Or maybe their investigation is ongoing and it would be wrong to release information without full details. But the people of CC and the rest of the world have already decided this guy is guilty. Didn’t you hear Al Sharpton???</p>
<p>I am bewildered that we should wait for the police investigation applies to a determination oz Zimmermens guilt but he was able to assume Martin was a criminal. Supposedly wearing a hoodie with the hood up in the rain is evidence enough.
Zimmermen had no business or cause to bother the child.</p>
<p>The irony is trayvon if he did punch Zimmerman, was doing what the law allowed. And calling Zimmerman part of some patrol is a farce, he roamed the streets alone.</p>
<p>And for some to say Zimmerman couldn’t be racist because he himself was a minority just shows how racist and stupid people can be. Hispanics can be rasicts too.</p>
<p>Normally that would make sense, and normally that’s how I would feel. But a big part of the problem is that the police did not do their job back a month ago when the shooting occurred. </p>
<p>They didn’t even call any numbers on Trayvon’s cell phone to identify him. His father had to call all the local hospitals and the police before finally getting his son identified. All the police would have had to do is call any of the last numbers dialed to figure out who the dead teenager was. They didn’t even do that. That is incomprehensible.</p>
<p>Seems in Florida, you can basically shoot anybody and claim self defense. You can chase someone and stab them to death. </p>
<p>So a man with an enemy can stalk him, shoot him, and claim he felt I danger. Apparently, the justifiable homicide rate there is sky rocketing…deaths with no charge, and it’s often an african american at the losing end.</p>
<p>Charlottes mom, the police did their job. They drug and alcohol tested the victim and not the shooter and the believed everything Zimmerman said. And the head the victims cell phone but contacted no one for three days. And yet you want to trust their results?</p>
<p>If trayvon had been white, Zimmerman would be in jail</p>
<p>It seems to me that with all of the attention and all of the pressure that this case has recieved that there are no legal grounds to arrest Zimmerman. Personally, I think Zimmerman was a bully looking for a confrontation after a series of neighborhood crimes. I don’t think the problem is the police, I think the problem is the law.</p>
<p>Is Zimmerman really in a Neighborhood Watch? Is there an organized group? I thought they never went out alone, never went out armed? He really just sounds like some guy with a gun playing sherrif.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine a scenario under which Zimmerman’s actions aren’t criminal. Having said that, I am OK waiting for the investigation to unfold now that folks from outside are paying attention. I certainly could be mistaken. Heck, I thought OJ was guilty…</p>
<p>In all my years in Fl, I have never heard of a neighborhood watch team being allowed to carry a gun. Defending oneself has always been interpreted as to keeping a gun within one’s own household. It is so horrible governor Christ was on Morning Joe this morning. I hope justice gets served. Nothing will bring back that young man, but I hope the law gets clarified</p>
<p>thecheckbook / bookworm, I really think you are both correct. This law is horrible:<br>
<a href=“1”>quote</a> A person who uses force as permitted in s. 776.012, s. 776.013, or s. 776.031 is justified in using such force and is immune from criminal prosecution and civil action for the use of such force, unless the person against whom force was used is a law enforcement officer, . . . As used in this subsection, the term “criminal prosecution” includes arresting, detaining in custody, and charging or prosecuting the defendant.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>In other words, the police are forbidden by the law from detaining in custody, arresting, or charging anyone who was defending himself. So how do they figure out whether or not the shooter was defending himself, since you can’t even detain the person to pursue any investigation? It’s a ridiculous law.</p>
<p>I agree that the biggest problem is the law. But, clearly, Zimmerman ignored the 911 operator’s request to quit following Trayvon and was looking for trouble. Not saying they’ll get a conviction, but I can’t believe there wasn’t enough there for an arrest. Cops didn’t do their job. Not identifying him for days is just so wrong.</p>
<p>I just listened to the 911 tapes. Zimmerman was just looking for someone to nab. He followed him even though the dispatcher immediately told him not to. He said, “he’s holding something, I can’t make out what it is”. Skittles and ice tea, idiot! How tragic, and all brought about by Zimmerman and his paranoia, his racism, his disrespect for the law, and his itchy trigger finger. </p>
<p>When I think of how often my girls would wear hoodies, and would put the hoods up in the rain, and would carry something, anything! It’s chilling, truly frightening to think of how someone determined to see danger can see it in anything. And then shoot.</p>
<p>^^^^I believe that the above is true. Yes, it is about racism. Don’t kid yourself. Zimmerman was “scared” of a black child wearing a sweatshirt. Police wouldn’t have believed his story about being threatened by a skittles-carrying white child. So he would have been arrested, regardless of their crazy law. It really is about racism, quite simply, combined with a man without balls unless he’s brandishing a gun. Neighborhood watch, my a**! My heart aches for Treyvon’s family. Hey, notice the NRA is silent? Fascinating, huh?</p>