<p>Regarding the gun, I did hear a report that Zimmerman’s weapon was taken from him and booked as evidence. I haven’t found an article to corroborate that, though. I heard it on a newscast.</p>
<p>What is very troubling for me about the path that the “stand your ground” defense appears to be taking in Florida is that self-defense has always been a defense made during trial NOT a complete immunity against any arrest being made to begin with.</p>
<p>I read a blog post on one of those “right-wing” sites and it used google maps and explained in great detail why Zimmerman’s story of Tayvon coming up behind him couldn’t possibly have worked within the timeframe of the 911 calls. Clearly, tough guy was chasing Tayvon. I just can’t wrap my brain around why anyone would think they have the right to chase someone with a gun. Is this normal among men?</p>
<p>I was holding my baby on my lap last night (he is 13) and watching the news. He saw the Tayvon thing and said “he was his mom’s boo boo zoo zoo” and I said yes. Tayvon was a little boy.</p>
<p>I agree that this is troubling, scansmom. I have read that the Florida law is written so that a shooter who is claiming self-defense cannot even be detained. What I find even more troubling is the history of this law in Florida, and some other states. Normally, someone in a state identifies a need for a law, a law is written by a state legislator and his/her staff, it goes through the process. This law was written by a lobbying group, ALEC, funded by the NRA, whose purpose is to write laws and get them passed in as many states as possible. Paul Krugman has a recent column on this and others have reported on it as well.</p>
<p>I don’t know how Trayvon’s parents find the strength to do what they are doing. I admire them for fighting so hard for change. I worry about Trayvon’s younger brother. I can’t even imagine what this must be like for him.</p>
<p>I’m not sure it is actually written that way, but it is being enforced that way. There is room to arrest and investigate in the law, the way it is written. But, it has been interpreted and enforced in a way which makes it seem as if there is no need for an investigation.</p>
<p>The word reasonable appears quite frequently.</p>
<p>We are all pretty reasonable here, and I don’t hear anyone say there was any reasonable explanation for what Zimmerman did. The minute he disregarded the dispatcher’s instructions not to follow Trayvon, the only reasonable outcome became arrest and investigation.</p>
<p>Lazy, shoddy police work, and I don’t know, either, what the prosecutors have to say on the subject. In some states they have more say than in others.</p>
<p>I suspect that the “true” facts of what happened that night will prove to be unclear and debatable in the long run. What’s not debatable, in my opinion, is the fact that Zimmerman’s possession of a gun that night changed everything. “Guns don’t kill people?” This time, the presence of a gun destroyed two lives and hurt countless others. No gun, no pursuit. No pursuit, no confrontation. No confrontation, no one dies. Simple as that.</p>
<p>I believe that there are lots of Zimmermans out there who have obtained a firearm in the adolescent fantasy that they’ll use it to stop “the bad guys,” and they’re encouraged by the slick and irresponsible PR of the gun lobby.</p>
<p>This is the fruit of that effort. This is the predictable consequence of encouraging gun possession and vigilantism. I’m sure we’ll hear lots of excuses from the gun nuts - the PR guys have certainly already created and tested the best spin to use to deflect attention from the role their favorite toy played in this event. But the presence of a gun is the one indisputable factor which led to this tragedy.</p>
<p>poetgrl - The solution to school shootings is to arm the 6th-Graders. (Arming teenagers is obviously not a good idea, all those hormones and such.)</p>
<p>Just curious … does the FL “Stand your ground” law have a limit on how many threatening persons one can shoot dead without being detained? Did Jared Lee Loughner err by defending himself in Arizona rather than Florida?</p>
<p>Can I vent for a second? I admittedly went to a pretty redneck HS and am FB friends with many of my classmates. I love that now that parts of Zimmerman’s story have been leaked that people are trying to make Zimmerman look like the victim, beaten up by a teen-ager who he was following with a gun. All the calls for “let’s let the Grand Jury sort out the facts of the case” are pretty hollow when the point is that the police didn’t bother to actually ascertain the full range of facts of the case. I won’t be the least bit surprised when the Grand Jury determines they don’t have enough facts to charge Zimmerman. That’s the point of the outrage. He was assumed that night to be in the right, and the police didn’t do their job. I heard one of Zimmerman’s friends say on TV that there might have been a struggle over the gun and that he doesn’t even know who fired the shot. Hmmmm, if the police had confiscated the gun and dusted for prints, we’d know whether Martin ever had his hands on it. But it appears we’ll never know that. And lots more.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t even give him that, Youdon’tsay. If Zimmerman had a loaded gun out, with the safety off, and was close enough to struggle with an innocent teenager that he’d scared by following solely because he looked “suspicious”, I don’t think it much matters who fired the gun.</p>
<p>But you’re right that if the police had done their job at the time, we’d have fewer questions than we have now.</p>
<p>And I love how the women in the house whose yard was where the shooting occurred said it was too dark to see everything, but other witnesses suddenly appear saying they saw everything perfectly? The shooting occurred around 7pm on Feb 26th, when it was dark out. Perhaps I’m too cynical, but the fact that Zimmerman’s father is a retired judge makes me take some of this recent activity with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>I am wondering about the Zimmerman friend who is making the round of the talk shows. He is about twice Zimmerman’s age, and seems very comfortable and articulate in his interviews. He is much better at this than Zimmerman’s lawyer. He is saying some ridiculous things, but always keeps his composure. I’m not sure whether he’s black or not. He seems like an odd friend for someone like Zimmerman, a much younger man with a history of violence and a passion for guns.</p>
<p>Didn’t know the guy was an anchor either. That would explain how good he is on TV. He says just enough, kwim? The whole theory that maybe they struggled over the gun was provocative, but he had absolutely no proof. But just raising the idea is reminiscent of the Casey Anthony case – throw an idea out there and hope it sticks.</p>
<p>Gun advocates want to point out situations where a bad guy with a gun is shot by someone exercising his right to have a gun and they conclude it’s good to be armed. This case shows the exact opposite. Kluge is right for once in his life.:)</p>