Gun Free Zone

“You leave here now and you get on the phone and you call people and tell them to call people,” he continued. “I said to my grandmother, ‘We not going to boycott Florida orange juice because Florida orange juice is sold under different names. We going to boycott orange juice.’ And when them orange growers start running in to take that governor and he knows he can’t stand his ground with them. This is who we are. Starting thinking about Christmas. You know it’s hard to get us to do something.”

Gregory called for people to boycott Disney as well, since it is based in Orlando, Fla. “How many of y’all have been to Disneyland to see a rat?” Gregory said, referencing Mickey Mouse, to laughter from the several hundred in attendance. “But haven’t walked down the street to see King’s tomb? Had he not died, you wouldn’t be welcome in Orlando. So we not asking you to do anything that costs you. We just say save your money. Don’t spend it. And when they understand who you are, then things will stop happening.” Disneyland is located in Anaheim, CA. Disneyworld is located in Orlando, FL.

via ‘Justice for Trayvon’ DC: Boycott Disneyland.

The ones that did not take the bait and stayed home are the smart ones.

A man registered Democrat, of mixed race, community organizer, proven record of fighting against injustice and racism, campaigned and voted for President Obama was found not-guilty of Murder by a jury of his peers. Rev. Al Sharpton organized for today protests in one hundred cities against the verdict and the Stand Your Ground Laws that had nothing to do with the case. If the protests get out of hand (always a possibility) and lead to attacks on innocent people, some of them may have to defend themselves under the protection of Stand Your Ground Law.

Yup, makes a crapload of sense.

Trayvon Martin was shot & killed on February 26, 2012. For over a year, the media went into a deep digging expedition trying to find every bit of dirt possible on George Zimmerman including doing some “creative” editing and analysis.

Yet, during the same time, little nice was found about Trayvon Martin. The little it came out was not the best anybody would want to see when trying to pontificate somebody as victim. I mean, you couldn’t even find somebody that said Trayvon liked kitties and helped old ladies across the street on rainy days.

If you happen to watch “The First 48” you will notice that the narrator, no matter how hard-core nasty the victim was, will say a couple of good things at the beginning of the show about the body laying in the slab/ground/floor so, what did the Media find out about Martin that we are not being told about? What kind of person was TM that even his neighborhood of Miami Gardens did not care much about the verdict to even raise 5 minutes of hell (or equivalent purgatory.) I know, I was there right after the verdict and it was a very darn quiet night, which is unusual for the neighborhood.

I guess maybe in 6 months or a year, we will finally find out who was the real Trayvon Martin. That is if there is some real journalist left out there.

Earlier today I had a discussion with somebody who complained that Zimmerman went about the incident the wrong way. The gentleman argued that Zimmerman should have drawn his weapon upon seeing Martin and do a Citizen’s Arrest. He was convinced that Martin would have behaved and the whole situation ending up with his death could have been avoided.

Since the Gentleman was not from Florida, I pointed out that although I heard rumors that Citizen’s Arrest might be valid in the Sate of Florida, there is nothing defined in the Statutes plus brandishing a weapon is a crime and if pointed it at a person that was not being a threat could end you with Assault with a Deadly Weapon charge. I did a quick check and found out that Georgia (where this gentleman is living) runs pretty much in the same lines as Florida on Brandishing and doing stupid stuff with a gun and I so informed him. He went on to say that he had a Texas permit which is where he is originally from. Comments he made like “He said TM asked him if he had a problem. Right then the gun should have been out” , “Hell no. No you pull the gun out before blows are exchanged“, “I will still do it here, rather than shoot someone I don’t really have to shoot. 1st threat, 2nd brandish, 3rd shoot. All if I feel are truly needed of course” and  “I’m willing to break any unjust or unconstitutional law” demonstrated a scary ignorance of the law and the dynamics of an encounter with a possible violent person.

Top of my head and reviewing what he said against Florida Statutes, he could be charged with a daisy chain of crimes: the already-mentioned brandishing and assault with a deadly weapon, we can add assault, False Imprisonment and/or kidnapping and probably some more felonies and misdemeanors.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I don’t know how else to say this:

IF YOU CARRY A GUN FOR SELF DEFENSE, YOU HAVE THE RESPONSIBILITY TO LEARN THE LAWS OF YOUR STATE TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITY AND TO SEEK THE BEST ADVICE FROM A RELIABLE SOURCE IF YOU HAVE DOUBTS.

It ain’t what you wish it to be, it is what it says in the books. Expressions like “But I heard on TV..” “I was told by a cop friend of mine…” “I  read it in a Gun Forum…” are not sound legal strategies and not recognized by the courts as proper defense.

Life is not a sporting event.

From their Facebook page, the latest joining the Anti Stand Your Ground Crusade (more like a cruise if you ask me):

So my default is that they will lie for no other reason than …well. they are liars. But I did find a bit strange that the old instructions were so sparse and short when nothing related to law, specially inside a court is reduced in length. I asked around and Sebastian from Shall Not Be Questioned provided me with a link to the corrections to the Jury Instructions after SYG was enacted and which it kept the original language (notice the strikeouts on bottom of page 8 and top of page 9). Apparently somebody with MDA “forgot” to copy and paste all the relevant instructions.

In the spirit of help, I corrected their cute ad to reflect that elusive thing called truth.

So even before SYG and with the evidence presented in court, Zimmerman would have to be found Not-Guilty. Of course, silly me. Stand Your Ground was not applicable to Zimmerman as we all know since it was straight up Self Defense.  But don’t let the truth get in the way of a “good” cause.