I'm 60 years old, retired, and have always owned, and liked, guns. Given the craziness in Aurora, CO two days ago, perhaps we really should again think about the yet-unresolved Trayvon Martin tragedy.
Let’s go back, briefly.
It's a dark and rainy night in Florida. An unarmed teenage boy with his hood up is walking home in a gated community. A young adult male with a history of block watch activity, and a handgun, gets out of his car - in the rain(!) - and follows the kid to watch him. Is the kid behaving suspiciously? Does he look in car windows? Look in house windows? Hop a fence? Start to run, or even walk in a furtive manner? Nope. (And good for him, ‘cause I did stuff like that, on occasion, when I was his age. And I wasn’t considered a bad kid. Honest.)
The adult calls the police, who tell him NOT to get out of his car. When the adult tells the police that he is following the kid, they tell him to NOT follow the kid.
You know the rest, detail by detail, not all of which are very clear.
Two days ago, I heard, on the radio, an audio segment from a one-hour FOX TV interview of George Zimmerman the preceding day. In the interview, Mr. Zimmerman states that he prays for the Martin family every night, and he believes that the death of Travon Martin at his hand was God's will. Sound, um, odd to you? Imbalanced, perhaps makes you think about mental illness? I thought Mr. Zimmerman was really laying it on thick, and it made me feel kinda' sick. I'm sure you can easily find the interview on-line - check it out.
I don't wish to try Mr. Zimmerman in this forum. However, the fact that an imperfect, but basically good and promising, young life was snuffed out for no good reason makes me ill - by this, I mean physically ill. S-I-C-K.
This sort of senseless killing is actually encouraged by a few states like Florida with their crazy-evil stand-your-ground laws. Wow. These cute new laws suggest to a lot of folks that deadly force is no big deal. Get in an argument, see a guy doing something that looks even potentially bad? Don't ask questions, don't call the cops. Just blow 'em away! Easy.
12 dead, and counting, in Aurora, CO - just like the Zimmerman posse event - makes me feel sick. Whatever happened to that assault rifle ban? Notice that neither Obama or Romney, nor anyone of note in either Party, has brought up (whisper) "gun control"? Nope, this time around, no one dares to even say the words.
I like my guns, but NRA, your inexplicable and opaquely stupid support of stand-your-ground laws, assault rifles, and 38-Special style human killers makes me think you're just shills for the gun makers. A few extra tens of thousands of civilians die each year? Hey, no big deal. Gotta' sell more 'o them guns! NRA: You're obviously corrupt, and YOU make me sick (really, again, I mean you literally turn my stomach).
When I was a young man, our traditional annual hunts put meat on the table. I can't really think about guns in the same uncomplicated way in 2012. So sad. Beyond our innate desire to try George Zimmerman in the court of public opinion, doesn't it all make you ill?