It's Watch!... Neighborhood Watch. Not shoot.

It seems excessive to me, Baron. I'm sure over a 10-year period there would be some legitimate calls. But this guy was calling 911 over some guy in his pajamas picking up trash in the neighborhood ... on trash day. He called 911 over kids playing in the street.
Zimmerman comes across as Barney Fife. Unfortunately, a Barney Fife who knew how to use his weapon. I think Azrael said it best on the first page of this thread: What is a neighborhood watch captain doing with anything more than a flashlight?

This guy had ample opportunity to do the right thing. Stay in your damn car. Wait by the clubhouse for the cops to arrive. Let them sort it out. Don't go chasing after the kid. And I just can't buy Zimmerman's explanation of what went down. I'm not saying it isn't true ... maybe Trayvon did attack him ... and proceed to beat the shit out of him. Maybe he did feel his life was threatened. I just can't buy it.

And this idea about him being half Hispanic somehow disqualifies the fact that prejudice doesn't enter into the equation is ludicrous. There's prejudice everywhere. I'm not saying Zimmerman's a racist or a bigot. Hell, I have no idea. It sure sounded like he said 'fucking coons' on that 911 tape, but even still, far be it for me to know what's in his heart. He may or may not be a racist. He's FUCKING IDIOT, that much is certain.

 

I've dialed 911 twice in my life, and I'm old. Nearly 5 times a year for 10 years seems excessive.

 

I'd go for your gun too if I thought you were going to shoot me with it.

Sounds to me like the kid got sick of being followed and challenged the guy. Being a 17-year-old, he's prone to making ill-advised snap decisions. Zimmerman, as an adult, should know better.

 

Maybe it's not excessive if you live in a crappy neighborhood, or near a major highway where there are a lot of wrecks. This guy lived in a gated community.

 

There are too many holes in Zimmerman's story. What's worse is that they are trying to smear a dead kid with the marijuana report. I don't like it one bit.

 

"Gated community" seems like a fairly broad term in Florida.

 

Police revisionism:

www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2012/03/sanford_fla_cops_new_leaked_account_of_trayvon_martin_s_killing_.html

The local press is so far behind this story it may impossible for them to catch up.

 

"Self defense" claims another Florida life.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/26/2716441/bso-man-shot-dead-in-pompano-beach.html

 

'Justifiable homicide' triples under Florida 'stand your ground' - and crime rates were already dropping when it was enacted.

www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article1128317.ece

blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2012/03/self_defense_deaths_have_tripl.php

www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime/justifiable-homicides-rise-in-palm-beach-county-2105706.html?printArticle=y

www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/politifact-florida-drop-in-violent-crime-appears-unrelated-to-stand-your/1222066

miami.cbslocal.com/2012/03/20/deaths-nearly-triple-since-stand-your-ground-enacted/

 

And, no surprise, carrying a gun makes you more aggressive.

ideas.time.com/2012/03/26/trayvon-martin-the-neuroscience-of-what-makes-people-trigger-happy/?xid=gonewsedit

"Psychologists have known for more than 40 years that possession of a weapon can increase aggression."

 

And I would like to know just where that marijuana story came out. Being 17, his record would be sealed, no. Especially if there were no criminal charges.

 

Some notes on 'Stand Your Ground' and where and how it came to be.

www.nytimes.com/2005/04/27/national/27shoot.html?_r=1

www.huffingtonpost.com/the-center-for-public-integrity/nra-pushed-stand-your-gro_b_1379617.html

www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/03/24/republican-leaders-express-sympathy-support-stand-your-ground/

"Stand your ground means stand your ground,” [Jeb] Bush said following a speech at the University of Texas at Arlington. “It doesn't mean chase after somebody who's turned their back."

www.thenation.com/blog/166978/how-alec-took-floridas-license-kill-law-national

Baxley and Peadon served in the Florida House and Senate as active members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the shadowy Koch brothers–funded network that brings together right-wing legislators with corporate interests and pressure groups to craft so-called “model legislation.”