I hope this has not already been posted. I find it very disturbing

[BlueStreak]

I think any red faced and heavily armed idiot who fancies himself a "Protecter of the Trailer Park" should have Carte Blanc to kill anyone he perceives to be a potential threat. He could even fashion himself a "Community Commander" badge out of an empty beer can and appoint deputies.

Wouldn't that be fun?

YeeHaw!! Boys, we gonna git us some justice now! Let's start with the faggit in the pink double-wide! He frightens me!

Dave

[RamblinE]

Originally Posted by Wasillaguy

We've been over the 911 call already, and you are incorrect. Go listen again.

Okay, but you're missing my big point. Trayvon Martin would still be alive if Zimmerman hadn't been trolling around totting a gun, yes? Or no?

[barbara]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

I think any red faced and heavily armed idiot who fancies himself a "Protecter of the Trailer Park" should have Carte Blanc to kill anyone he perceives to be a potential threat. He could even fashion himself a "Community Commander" badge out of an empty beer can and appoint deputies.

Wouldn't that be fun?

YeeHaw!! Boys, we gonna git us some justice now! Let's start with the faggit in the pink double-wide! He frightens me!

Dave

..............+1

[Oerets]

Lets see if I was inclined to carry my gun, no fear now if it is used to kill someone. Pick all the fights I want with unarmed people, then when confronted just shoot to kill. Kill them so they can't argue the facts later. All because I feared for my life!




Barney

[Wasillaguy]

Originally Posted by barbara

I'm with Zeke on this one... If there hadn't been a gun at the confrontation, regardless of who was the aggressor, no one would have been shot dead.

That's true, no one would have been shot dead. Beyond that, who's to say how the confrontation would have turned out? Maybe Trayvon would have continued to slam Zimmerman's head into the concrete until he was in a vegetative state. Apparently Zimmerman didn't want to find out.

I hear Zeke's argument that Zimmerman was emboldened by the fact that he had a gun to protect himself. Unfortunately, that argument goes both ways. Trayvon sized up Zimmerman and may have been emboldened by the fact that he was taller and quicker, and decided therefore to attack rather than avoid. If Zimmerman's gun had been in plain view, Trayvon might have just walked on back to that basketball game that was coming on.

[RamblinE]

Why is this a big deal? Well to me, I don't see much of a difference between myself and Trayvon Martin. Except for the part where I lived through my teenage years of course.

I was most diffidently what some would call, a hoodlum. Should I have been shot like a dog?

I most diffidently would, and probably still would confront somebody who's following me around. Do I deserve to be shot like a dog?

[Wasillaguy]

Originally Posted by RamblinE

Why is this a big deal? Well to me, I don't see much of a difference between myself and Trayvon Martin. Except for the part where I lived through my teenage years of course.

I was most diffidently what some would call, a hoodlum. Should I have been shot like a dog?

I most diffidently would, and probably still would confront somebody who's following me around. Do I deserve to be shot like a dog?

You can confront all you want, but as soon as you start assaulting you are a candidate for a bullet.
Ever been to Chicago? The panhandlers will follow you for blocks, sometimes silently, sometimes verbally abusive. As far as I know, if you start punching them and slamming their heads on the pavement, it's frowned upon.

[RamblinE]

There's little chance that somebody who weighs a hundred pounds less then me will have me down on the ground banging my head into the pavement. However that's an unlikely scenario as I am 150 pounds. However, my point is still valid.

Kids make mistakes. Martin was only 17. I made a lot of mistakes around that age and the consequences are that while I'm barely a sophmore in college my friends are buying houses and getting established in careers. However, you live and you learn, an opportunity that Trayvon Martin was denied.

[Wasillaguy]

Not all mistakes are survivable

[RamblinE]

And not all physical altercations are deadly. Had Zimmerman minded his own business there would have been no physical altercation with Martin.