Florida's Stand your Ground law

For those of you still following this case without trying to grind any particular axe, this is a pretty dispassionate analysis of the Martin case that frames the relevant issues quite well, in my opinion. It is useful, especially with the constantly clanging voices of those entrenched on one side or the other, to read something like this just to remember what's at stake in this case.

A clear case of cognitive dissonance.

David's entire self portrait is built on the premise
that carrying a gun is a smart thing to do.

If other people who carry guns do stupid things,
then that would mean that carrying a gun doesn't automatically
make him smart, and that is intolerable.

Therefore, Zimmerman must have done the right thing,
no matter what knots Davids psyche has to twist itself into.

Possession of emergency equipment has no effect upon anyone's intelligence.

The weight differential was more like 80 lbs. Zimmerman was 250 lbs at that time.

Literally tens of thousands of publications and media outlets have reported that George Zimmerman weighed 250 pounds and Trayvon Martin weighed 140 pounds.

The weight of 250 pounds for George Zimmerman was based on a police report that was over six years old. He has since lost a lot of weight. Newer pictures of Zimmerman show a much slimmer man.

Media outlets have reported several different heights for George Zimmerman. They have ranged from 5'2" to 5'9". The Sanford police report from the night of the shooting lists Zimmerman at 5'9".

The police surveillance video, recently shown on ABC National News shows a fairly slender George Zimmerman the night of the attack. A close friend of Zimmerman, Joe Oliver, says Zimmerman is 5'8" and currently only weighs 170 pounds.

The police estimated Trayvon at 6'0" and 160 pounds when they wrote the police report the night he was shot. This was probably a conservative estimate, as his family has reported his height at 6'2".



Continue reading on Examiner.com George Zimmerman weighs 170#; Trayvon Martin 160# - Charleston Charleston Conservative | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/article/george-zimmerman-weighs-170-trayvon-martin-160#ixzz1sYli84fp

Thanks for the correction. How special!

I will enjoy seeing the trial end with proper justice. I would venture to say we are in agreement there. Who cares how many pounds Zimmerman outweighed Trayvon? It is a fact that is not crucial to the case. The facts will surface and the jury and judge and hopefully this will resolve sooner rather than later.

So you are speculating that the facts aren't knowable? Correct?

I am convinced that the law should be struck down. Perhaps there will be an ultimate good deriving from this trial, but only if this vague dangerous law is overturned or modified considerably.

Interesting article in today's Guardian about the NRA.

The NRA is not entirely certain what to do with its partial success.
Partly it keeps pushing for laws that would expand the places where guns might be carried,
including churches, bars and college campuses (it supports a group called Students for Concealed Carry).

Partly, it opposes even the most basic controls, such as legislation to ban gun sales
to people on the government's terrorist watchlist, meaning a
suspected terrorist can be denied the right to board a plane but not to buy a gun.

This has left the NRA with a problem.
Now the Democrats have caved and the supreme court has a pro-gun majority,
it simply has no worthy enemy.

No one at the convention can point to a single concrete piece of legislation from the White House that they didn't like. Instead, they simply raise the spectre of an Obama second term. Unfettered by the need to stand again, he will come for your guns. There is absolutely nothing, beyond his right to appoint people to the Supreme Court and beyond, to suggest this is true. But there is nothing to prove it couldn't be either.

In Missouri, says Oxford, one representative attempted to add gun ownership to the list of protected categories alongside race, gender and disability so that no gun owner could be discriminated against in employment. "We asked her if she knew anyone that had ever happened to," says Oxford. "She didn't."

It is this fear, of the unknown and the known, both manufactured,
exploited and real, that hangs over the convention.

Time and again people paint scenarios in which I or my family might be attacked,
threatened or in some way violated as a rationale for arming myself.

Oh great.....this gets crazier and crazier.
Hordes of paranoid people with guns and nobody to be paranoid about. That's a vacuum of sorts.

Based on the footage, it wasn't much of a wound. Given that he was treated by paramedics but the wound wasn't even bandaged, it hardly seems like he was subject to a beating severe enough that someone would need to shoot their way out of it.

Don't you think it's ridiculous that someone on the terrorist watch list
can be barred from boarding a plane, but not from buying a gun?

I think your question is ridiculous. If you have been on this site for more than a month
you should know that David believes that each person should have a gun for every door
and window in his home for personal protection.

When the Bill of Rights was enacted, in 1791,
there were NO police anywhere in the USA,
nor were there any in England, either, until the next century.
( Private citizens did hire watchmen.)

The Bow Street Runners have been called London's first professional police force. The force was founded in 1749 by the author Henry Fielding and originally numbered just six. Bow Street runners was the public's nickname for these officers, "although the officers never referred to themselves as runners, considering the term to be derogatory".The Bow Street group was disbanded in 1839.

When the Bill of Rights was enacted, in 1791,
there were NO police anywhere in the USA,
nor were there any in England, either, until the next century.
( Private citizens did hire watchmen.)

Quote:

The Bow Street Runners have been called London's first professional police force. The force was founded in 1749 by the author Henry Fielding and originally numbered just six. Bow Street runners was the public's nickname for these officers, "although the officers never referred to themselves as runners, considering the term to be derogatory".The Bow Street group was disbanded in 1839.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow_Street_Runners