Robert Ariail for March 25, 2012

And you are comfortable that the next person you meet is most likely carrying a device that can kill you in the event of a mishap or mental issue?I’m a foreigner, and when I told my late Father (a veteran of four years prisoner of war in the USSR and had bullet wound scars the size of tea saucers) cautioned me against going. I did go twice and fell in love with your people and your country, but I could not raise my children in a war zone.

Further, aren’t your Police also your citizens? I live in a part of the world where gun ownership is regarded as strange and suspicious. The vast majority of my fellow citizens are quite happy that their neighbour is (probably) unarmed. Our Police are also happy with this and have not taken over, because they are from our community, and mostly very decent people who are at constant danger from the very few who have obtained guns, mostly from the USA. You folks are very dangerous for the rest of the world.

The problem is not directly with the law, it is with how some idiots interpret it. The Police are not supposed to decide if it applies, the Court System is.There are a number of cases where “Stand Your Ground” is working/has worked the way it’s supposed to be, generally with the defendant sitting in jail until the DA or the Jury decide that he WAS justified in defending himself with deadly force.

How many people have actually read the statute? [Florida Statutes Sec. 776.013.] It speaks of a person’s right to stand their ground in their own home; specifically, a “dwelling, residence, or occupied vehicle” against unlawful entry by another person. The statute gives the circumstances under which deadly force may be used in self-defense. Now it does give exceptions, and it says nothing about “standing ground” in an open or public place, forum, or asylum. Whether or not Zimmerman violated this statute is for the appropriate court to decide.

Check it out: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0776/Sections/0776.013.html

Now I´m against guns, but if people are so obsessed with having a gun I dont see an issue with it – AT HOME. However out in the streets only policemen should be wearing firearms and be allowed to. Also for that matter shouldnt the safety of guns be improved allready and any old firearms be destroyed?

Have you read the laws that have recently been passed by Obama and democrats lately?

Does everyone think that the media has reported all the facts? Not likely. At least one online article has told of a police report that mentioned things not reported else anywhere that I’ve seen.

Has anyone read anything of the history of the world for the past 100 years? Is there a single dictatorship that allows citizens the “right to keep and bear arms?” NO. One of the first things a dictator does is confiscate all weapons from the populace. That way, they cannot defend themselves from him. Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Mao – no guns in the hands of the people, no problem from the people.

stupid law. wouldn’t be surprised if it happened again.

Since the “honor killing”, ‘er excuse me, “Stand you ground” law passed, “justifiable homicide” in Florida has gone from 12 per year, to 33 per year, that represents a near 300 % increase. The numbers should make one suspect, due to this TAPED case, some further investigation might be necessary when what was clearly a HUNTING incident, didn’t lead to an arrest.

BTW, in all 50 states, if an intruder in your home threatens your life or personal safety, it is already legitimate TO USE DEADLY FORCE in your DEFENSE!! Going out on the street with a gun, looking for “trouble”, is encouraged by these “stand your ground” laws in 16 states that let you LEAVE your home and start trolling for victims. The line between legitimate threat to your life, and “shoot first, ask questions later”, is clearly, and dangerously, being blurred.

“I’m waiting for the day when NRA means ‘Not Relevant Anymore’.” – Dennis Miller (Back when he was actually funny.)

@bruce,at least zimmerman is getting a trial, even if it is in the media. It is the medias job to hold government accountable. in this instance government should have contained the scene, performed forensics and at least held him.

his cry of “self defence”, when he pursued this child is hollow and disgraceful. it’s doubly disgraceful that the police just accepted his word (especially after they told him NOT to pursue this child) and allowed the murder scene to become contaminated.

any decent defense attorney can get him off now that the evidence has been compromised.

last i saw it was NOT open season on children wearing hoodies, EVEN IF THEY ARE BLACK.

i wear a hoodie, i’ve worn one 50 plus years. and from the back, with my hood up, you can’t tell whether i’m black, yellow, white or olive.

EVERYONE of decent conscience should be outraged that the hunt/pursuit, murder and negligence on the part of the police afterwards happened.

and so far as right right is concerned so long as a black man shoots a whilte cop, then it IS open season on black youth. shameful.

I see that I have not written clearly enough. My Father was a soldier shot by Soviet bullets and held prisoner by the Soviets for four years. As he was Hungarian, when released in 1948, as soon as he got back home he took my Mother across the Austrian border under cover of darkness to avoid getting shot. At no stage did we ever think that anything the Soviets ever did was any good.He taught me to shoot on our farm, so neither of us have been gun-phobic. Personally, I am not “ban all guns”, you need them for livestock management and lawfully ordained defense forces. Finally, I am not in the USA, but enjoyed both my visits there. Like most foreigners, the thought that the people I meet may be carrying firearms is rather disconcerting, something that did happen while I was there when a couple, new friends, revealed they needed three handguns to feel safe. They may have been right, but I felt sorry they lived in such a dangerous place. One more thing: if we had a gun in my home, my ex-wife may well have used it instead of throwing a carving knife across the room while I was watching TV and you would not be reading this now.

I appreciate the dignity and coherence of your comments, and thank you for your respect for my writing and opinions. It was this kind of behavior that made the world respect the USA in the first place.

“White eyes” like Custer, were the shoot first folks, that bought it, in the end.

That law needs to be removed!

Bruce: I’m concerned about the mutation of what constitutes “defense” from grave bodily harm in these laws, especially in the minds of folks pre-determined toward aggression. Texas has reported really egregious violations of “firearms ethics”, supported by THEIR law. (Two UNARMED guys shot in the back is just one example I’ve cited before.)

Since the arrival of Wayne LaPIerre (lobbyist, not firearms expert) on the scene, the NRA has lost most of its credibility, and it’s about ethics, like “fire at will” versus "fundraising’.

^Hmm, going to be up in “The Villages” in a couple weeks, will look around at all the “blue hairs” and indeed think about that!

My “local news” actually a town172 miles away but closest TV news I get, had FIVE shooting incidents over the last weekend, and that’s a “small town” by U.S. standards.(and EXTREMELY “conservative” community!!) Murder/suicide, couple gang related, and others just people “ticked off” with their neighbors!

As we’ve often discussed, I own guns, support a REGULATED “Second Amendment right”, but with the number of “crazies” out there greatly increasing in the last 3 decades, the increase in “vigilante rule” makes me really nervous!

Of course, my odds are considerably more likely to be run over by some moron driving while on their cell phone than shot, by either criminal OR vigilante!