Red Mosquito

Fucker coulda been on the cover of Rolling Stone. If only he were more attractive...

I think the main thing Zimmerman failed to do was keep his distance. The issue with carrying a gun is the only case where you get to draw it or use it is when there is fear of death or serious bodily injury (or a felony is under way). Anything less and brandishing qualifies as assault in some (most?) jurisdictions. Moreover if you fail to draw it and someone gets the better of you it is now a liability as we saw from Zimmerman. If you want to confront a suspicious character, do so from a safe distance, I suppose.

simple schoolboy wrote:I think the main thing Zimmerman failed to do was keep his distance. The issue with carrying a gun is the only case where you get to draw it or use it is when there is fear of death or serious bodily injury (or a felony is under way). Anything less and brandishing qualifies as assault in some (most?) jurisdictions. Moreover if you fail to draw it and someone gets the better of you it is now a liability as we saw from Zimmerman. If you want to confront a suspicious character, do so from a safe distance, I suppose.

If you're going to use self defense as a legal defense I just don't think you can sneak up on a guy, then get into a fight and then draw the pistol when you get scared that you're in trouble. The firearm is a last resort defense. This is one of the reasons I'm against most of the gun laws that come down, it takes liberty away from the individual indefending ones own life and property. In truth you could argue that Zimmerman felt this way at the time, but if he doesn't get out of his car he's never in this fight, that's why I see this case as manslaughter. The choices and decisions Zimmerman made caused the argument in the first place. Both men acted poorly but Zimmerman also brought the firearm. From the moment he left his car in pursuit, every decision he made was wrong.

Electromatic wrote:

simple schoolboy wrote:I think the main thing Zimmerman failed to do was keep his distance. The issue with carrying a gun is the only case where you get to draw it or use it is when there is fear of death or serious bodily injury (or a felony is under way). Anything less and brandishing qualifies as assault in some (most?) jurisdictions. Moreover if you fail to draw it and someone gets the better of you it is now a liability as we saw from Zimmerman. If you want to confront a suspicious character, do so from a safe distance, I suppose.

If you're going to use self defense as a legal defense I just don't think you can sneak up on a guy, then get into a fight and then draw the pistol when you get scared that you're in trouble. The firearm is a last resort defense. This is one of the reasons I'm against most of the gun laws that come down, it takes liberty away from the individual indefending ones own life and property. In truth you could argue that Zimmerman felt this way at the time, but if he doesn't get out of his car he's never in this fight, that's why I see this case as manslaughter. The choices and decisions Zimmerman made caused the argument in the first place. Both men acted poorly but Zimmerman also brought the firearm. From the moment he left his car in pursuit, every decision he made was wrong.

i only highlighted the one portion and i know there is only one side but unfortunately that is all that we have. the account is zimmerman lost him and as he headed back to the truck i believe he stated he was struck from behind. going by that your highlighted statement doesnt come into play though i do agree with it.

Peeps wrote:

Electromatic wrote:

simple schoolboy wrote:I think the main thing Zimmerman failed to do was keep his distance. The issue with carrying a gun is the only case where you get to draw it or use it is when there is fear of death or serious bodily injury (or a felony is under way). Anything less and brandishing qualifies as assault in some (most?) jurisdictions. Moreover if you fail to draw it and someone gets the better of you it is now a liability as we saw from Zimmerman. If you want to confront a suspicious character, do so from a safe distance, I suppose.

If you're going to use self defense as a legal defense I just don't think you can sneak up on a guy, then get into a fight and then draw the pistol when you get scared that you're in trouble. The firearm is a last resort defense. This is one of the reasons I'm against most of the gun laws that come down, it takes liberty away from the individual indefending ones own life and property. In truth you could argue that Zimmerman felt this way at the time, but if he doesn't get out of his car he's never in this fight, that's why I see this case as manslaughter. The choices and decisions Zimmerman made caused the argument in the first place. Both men acted poorly but Zimmerman also brought the firearm. From the moment he left his car in pursuit, every decision he made was wrong.

i only highlighted the one portion and i know there is only one side but unfortunately that is all that we have. the account is zimmerman lost him and as he headed back to the truck i believe he stated he was struck from behind. going by that your highlighted statement doesnt come into play though i do agree with it.

Understood. According to people who paid a lot more attention to the trial than me there was never enough evidence to convict Zimmerman of wrongdoing and that's why it took so long for him to be charged. I'm sure the Jury did the best they could with the evidence they had, and they had a lot more than I'll ever know.

Thank you, Charles Barkley.

“I just feel bad because I don’t like when race gets out in the media ‘cuz I don’t think the media has a ‘pure heart,’ as I call it,” Barkley continued. “There are very few people who have a pure heart when it comes to race. Racism is wrong in any shape [or] form — there are a lot of black people who are racist, too. I think sometimes when people talk about race, they act like only white people are racist. There are a lot of black people who are racist. And I don’t like when it gets out there in the media because I don’t think the media has clean hands.”


And the media really wants Zimmerman's head on a platter. God, they don't stop. I want Huffington Post political analyst Sam Stein's head on a platter. The weasel.

Harry Lime wrote:“I just feel bad because I don’t like when race gets out in the media ‘cuz I don’t think the media has a ‘pure heart,’ as I call it,” Barkley continued. “There are very few people who have a pure heart when it comes to race. Racism is wrong in any shape [or] form — there are a lot of black people who are racist, too. I think sometimes when people talk about race, they act like only white people are racist. There are a lot of black people who are racist. And I don’t like when it gets out there in the media because I don’t think the media has clean hands.”

So insightful.

Electromatic wrote:

Peeps wrote:

Electromatic wrote:

simple schoolboy wrote:I think the main thing Zimmerman failed to do was keep his distance. The issue with carrying a gun is the only case where you get to draw it or use it is when there is fear of death or serious bodily injury (or a felony is under way). Anything less and brandishing qualifies as assault in some (most?) jurisdictions. Moreover if you fail to draw it and someone gets the better of you it is now a liability as we saw from Zimmerman. If you want to confront a suspicious character, do so from a safe distance, I suppose.

If you're going to use self defense as a legal defense I just don't think you can sneak up on a guy, then get into a fight and then draw the pistol when you get scared that you're in trouble. The firearm is a last resort defense. This is one of the reasons I'm against most of the gun laws that come down, it takes liberty away from the individual indefending ones own life and property. In truth you could argue that Zimmerman felt this way at the time, but if he doesn't get out of his car he's never in this fight, that's why I see this case as manslaughter. The choices and decisions Zimmerman made caused the argument in the first place. Both men acted poorly but Zimmerman also brought the firearm. From the moment he left his car in pursuit, every decision he made was wrong.

i only highlighted the one portion and i know there is only one side but unfortunately that is all that we have. the account is zimmerman lost him and as he headed back to the truck i believe he stated he was struck from behind. going by that your highlighted statement doesnt come into play though i do agree with it.

Understood. According to people who paid a lot more attention to the trial than me there was never enough evidence to convict Zimmerman of wrongdoing and that's why it took an obviously political special prosecutor to charge him*. I'm sure the Jury did the best they could with the evidence they had, and they had a lot more than I'll ever know.

*The locals didn't charge this at all. It wasn't a matter of gathering evidence, they figured out pretty quick that it wasn't worth their while.

For all those that say, "if the races had been reversed, he would have been charged immediately!", the data suggests otherwise. The Tampa Bay Times did an analysis of Stand Your Ground cases (of which this one is not, but its what the media keeps harping on) and white and black defendants successfully claim a SYG defense at fairly similar rates overall. Those that killed blacks fared worse than those that killed whites, which could be because, "black victims were more likely to be carrying a weapon when they were killed" and "more likely than whites to be committing a crime, such as burglary, at the time." So anyhow, if the roles were reversed, its pretty likely the local PD would have treated it similarly.

theplatypus wrote:

Harry Lime wrote:“I just feel bad because I don’t like when race gets out in the media ‘cuz I don’t think the media has a ‘pure heart,’ as I call it,” Barkley continued. “There are very few people who have a pure heart when it comes to race. Racism is wrong in any shape [or] form — there are a lot of black people who are racist, too. I think sometimes when people talk about race, they act like only white people are racist. There are a lot of black people who are racist. And I don’t like when it gets out there in the media because I don’t think the media has clean hands.”

So insightful.

You got some kind of beef with Charles, platy?

Harry Lime wrote:

theplatypus wrote:

Harry Lime wrote:“I just feel bad because I don’t like when race gets out in the media ‘cuz I don’t think the media has a ‘pure heart,’ as I call it,” Barkley continued. “There are very few people who have a pure heart when it comes to race. Racism is wrong in any shape [or] form — there are a lot of black people who are racist, too. I think sometimes when people talk about race, they act like only white people are racist. There are a lot of black people who are racist. And I don’t like when it gets out there in the media because I don’t think the media has clean hands.”

So insightful.

You got some kind of beef with Charles, platy?

Nope. But look at what he's saying here.

- Racism is bad.
- Black people can also be racist.
- The media doesn't have a pure heart.

Some great insights, Charles Barkley.

theplatypus wrote:

Harry Lime wrote:

theplatypus wrote:

Harry Lime wrote:“I just feel bad because I don’t like when race gets out in the media ‘cuz I don’t think the media has a ‘pure heart,’ as I call it,” Barkley continued. “There are very few people who have a pure heart when it comes to race. Racism is wrong in any shape [or] form — there are a lot of black people who are racist, too. I think sometimes when people talk about race, they act like only white people are racist. There are a lot of black people who are racist. And I don’t like when it gets out there in the media because I don’t think the media has clean hands.”

So insightful.

You got some kind of beef with Charles, platy?

Nope. But look at what he's saying here.

- Racism is bad.
- Black people can also be racist.
- The media doesn't have a pure heart.

Some great insights, Charles Barkley.

Why on earth would anyone quote Charles Barkley?

.

Damn right I'll hail Barkley. He makes more sense than all of the media. He says what most of everyone in the general public is thinking, but don't have the celebrity to say.

He makes more sense than ALL OF THE MEDIA. ALL OF IT

THE MEDIA IS A SINGLE HOMOGENOUS ENTITY, PEOPLE

.

.

Whichever it is, I'm sure it doesn't have a "pure heart"... as I call it.

There is more that Barkley pointed out that made sense. That the final verdict was the right one, and this black protest outrage is absurd, and the media helped fuel it. That's what he was getting at.