George Zimmerman, the man acquitted of murdering teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida, is to have his gun returned to him, the same weapon used to kill the unarmed boy.
This is the dream of the NRA – armed men roaming the streets, some of them pyschologically disturbed no doubt (does it matter?), gunning down anyone who looks suspicious, knowing that no jury will send them to jail.
A huge number of American citizens seriously think that “in this great country of ours” this is proportionate and civilised. Such policies gnaw away at belief in government, decency and morality and substitute for them the laws of fear and the jungle.
Thus have the gun lobby debased the country. Intelligent people, supporters of Epicurus or not, are outnumbered by fearmongers and people for whom morality has been sidelined by the loaded gun.
If this is what the American people want, then rapid retreat into either a literal or metaphorical garden is all that is left to us. Remember, it was Epicurus who invented the idea.
Trayvon was not a “boy”, he was taller than Zimmerman and athletic, despite most of the boyish pictures shown in the media. Trayvon attacked Zimmerman and was pounding his head into the pavement before Zimmerman finally reached for his gun. Zimmerman would have been wiser to keep a safe distance and wait for the police but, in the end, the critical factor in Trayvon’s death was Trayvon’s own stereotypical gangsta-wannabee attitude – as evidence by his gun-toting and pot-smoking self pictures – that went off at the slightest provocation of Zimmerman following him. Trayvon initiated the conflict, not Zimmerman.
Zimmerman was an armed thug, roaming around looking for trouble. Seen too many cowboy movies.
Zimmerman may have been a wannabe cowboy, but the facts are that the only injuries to Trayvon (apart from the gunshot) were on his fists (consistent with throwing punches). So the FACTS are that TRAYVON ATTACKED ZIMMERMAN, and that’s why Zimmerman was acquitted. Questioning and following is not a crime. Throwing punches is. Trayvon attacked Zimmerman and was killed because he was a thug.
The point is not who was a seedy character (both were/are). The point is the loaded guns on a city streets. Do you think this is civilised? Were a friend or family member of yours shot dead onthe street, would you still think loaded guns on city streets are a good idea? The fact is that this is just an NRA ploy to sell more guns.
I think it uncivilised and I am surprised that so many people are taken in by NRA propaganda.
This is one of those rare instances in which both sides are right, said Kathleen Parker in The Washington Post. “If I were African American, I would fear for my sons and be furious at a system that condones vigilantism.” Yet there was nothing automatically racist about Zimmerman’s targeting of Martin – young, black males had been involved in several local burglaries. The law is the real issue here. Had Zimmerman, as a watchman, not been allowed to carry a concealed weapon, he would probably have stayed in his car, as the police told him to, instead of confronting Martin. And had Florida not had a “Stand Your Ground” law – which allows people to use deadly force in self-defence, even during encounters they themselves recklessly initiated – justice might have been better served.