The Founding Fathers Did Us No Favors on Guns

By connecting guns to freedom we have created a monster three hundred years later that is eclipsing the world in the sheer amount of guns and our incredible murder rate. There is no one even close to us and why is this? Because the right to bear arms was written right next to the right of free speech, liberty, freedom of assembly, the right to a fair trial and a host  of other rights Americans hold near and dear. And by osmosis the right to own a gun is now equated with the right to freedom. And they are not the same.

But this is the entanglement of ideas that we now deal with. The right to bear arms was very important with an occupying force like the British. We know why the founding fathers wrote this amendment and why it was second. You backed up your freedom with arms. But the two are not the same and we have no occupying army and a government that safeguards our freedoms. And if you really believe you need a gun to fight the government then you are very delusional.  A gun will not help you in that fight.

But the problem is there is no division for  most gun owners. It is not merely a right to own a gun. It is a right to freedom and this is where it gets weird. Deadly force insures no freedom. In fact, it could very well take away your freedom. Just ask the two men on trial in Florida for shooting young black males under the Stand Your Ground law. But most people see a gun as freedom and this is why it is impossible to have a rational debate over guns.

I hate to say it, but it is a little like getting rid of slavery. We are that far apart.

www.billhazelgrove.com
 

Brother says Trayvon stalked George!

I get it, Trayvon mugged George! George Zimmermans brother has laid it out for us on that hot Florida night. He has let us know that George was not following Trayvon and in fact the opposite happened: he was followed! The brother is very calm and we now see George's defence which is that he was the victim. He was just a good Samaritan doing his duty as a citizen by calling in a suspicious character and walking back to his truck when he was attacked by a the Skittle toting thug and brutally assaulted and then right before he lost consciousness, right before imminent death, he went to his last resort, literally gasping his last breath, he didn't want to you understand, but he pulled his gun to keep Trayvon from taking it from him and shooting him!

The brother says all this in perfect calm. Very logical. Very tragic. But no. George was not following Trayvon. No. No. He merely kept his eye on him then lost track of him and then was attacked from behind and became the victim of the crazed Skittle mugger. Hmmm. Even Pierce Morgan had a hard time with that one but this is what we can expect. The gun was incidental. The gun just happened to be there because it is very normal for Floridians to carry guns and call in suspicious characters and to follow the suspicious character and then disobey the 911 operator and follow the suspicious character.

Wait a minute Pierce the brother says. He never said he was suspicious and he never followed him. But the police asked him if he was following him and he said yes!  I think you have to listen to that tape a little closer Pierce. He never said he was actually following him. What about calling in a man with a hoodie? He would have called in anyone who was suspicious. So we see on that hot Florida night no one is never safe. Even with a nine millimeter and an SUV you still are in danger.

What if he had never gotten out of his truck, Pierce asks finally. What if he had just left this boy alone? Ah. But you see. You are assuming he did something to Trayvon. Trayvon pursued my brother! And my brother woudl have been dead if he had not used his gun. Ohhhhh....it all makes perfect sense now. You are right. Good thing George had a gun. He might have gotten pinged by a Skittle.

http://www.billhazelgrove.com/

Will George Zimmerman run?

You wouldn't think the guy would just take off, but it is sure strange that George cut off communication with his attorneys and now is MIA. And the prosecutor said she will be releasing information within the next seventy two hours. And George is talking to Sean Hannity. I'd run. Sounds like a desperate man to me and the fact that all his former attorneys would say is that he is somewhere in the United States. Wow. I bet that prosecutor is nervous now.

It would be a hell of a thing if George just disappeared. But really can you imagine what is running through his mind. He shot and killed a seventeen year old. Now something along the lines of guilt and a sneaking suspicion that Stand Your Ground might not be as Teflon as it is cracked up to be would get him checking his passport and eyeing freighters bound for ports unknown. Because in the three AM moment, George has to have that final reckoning that he stalked a kid with some Skittles and a can of tea.

Even if you fool yourself into thinking you needed your nine millimeter to defend yourself against the unarmed highschooler you still have to wonder what would have happened if you had not followed him in the first place. And if you did follow him and were the aggressor, didn't you bring on the push back that might have occurred when one human tries to stop another? Even George must have started doubting his very thin rational that he needed deadly force against the Skittle man trying to get away from him.

But maybe we will never know. Maybe right now, George is on a plane or a ship or waiting to slip into Canada or going up into the mountains never to be seen again. If he is lucky he can get a new identity, start a new life. Something Trayvon will never be able to do.

http://www.billhazelgrove.com/

The Zimmerman View

Well now we have the brother of poor George saying that it was all in self defence and that the medical records will prove that poor George was getting beat up by the Skittle bearing Trayvon and that as a last resort meeting force with force he had to shoot the unarmed hoody skittle bandit to save his own life. Hmmm. Ok so here is the brothers salient point...George could not really defend himself against the blitzkrieg of Trayvon because "he was out of breath." Now the logical question for the vigilante turned murderer is...drum roll please...why was George out of breath?

Say he was working out. Taking a jog. Dropped and decided to do a quick fifty push ups and then some jumping jacks. Maybe a quick Karate workout to be the ever ready citizen patroler. Maybe he was running from some point outside the gate community and was late for work. Maybe he had asthma. Maybe COPD. Maybe he just as a rule is out of breath. Or maybe...just maybe he was....CHASING TRAYVON. Could that be the reason poor George was out of breath?

The brother sees no incongruity in this version of events. He sees himself as giving Georges side of events but of course the question, the question is that if a man is pursing another man and he has a gun and he has ignored the police who told him not pursue the man and now he is out of breath...since that man is the aggressor and the other man on the defensive? And how would these tables turn on packing George? I mean couldn't he have stopped running after Trayvon and caught his breath?

Or was George so intent on catching the hooded Skittle bandit and using his nine millimeter that he didn't even stop to catch his breath? The brother doesn't elaborate on this...but he wants the hate speech to stop. Tragic he says. Tragic. Yeah...you're right. Poor George all out of breath having to bust a cap to defend himself...there really ought to be a law.

http://www.billhazelgrove.com/

The Fiction of Zimmerman's Story

When you write fiction you have to have believability. You have to have people believe that your character is capable of the actions you have described. Your editor is shaking her head because she just read your story that is about an African American walking in a gated community in Florida. And he is being pursued by this guy in an SUV who has a gun. Your character is scared and talking to his girlfriend on his cellphone telling her that this dude is following him and he is trying to get away. Just run the girlfriend says. Your character has a pack of skittles and an iced tea and is wearing a hoodie. But your guy with the gun  is closing in.

Now your man in the SUV who has a nine millimeter on his hip in a holster is talking to the police. They tell him don't pursue your guy but you want to keep the action going so you have him get out of his truck and mutter, "they always get away." Now you have established a motive for him to pursue your black teenager who is still trying to get away, heart pounding, holding his iced tea and Skittles. Now your guy in the SUV is running after him and he calls out and your character stops trying to get away.

Here is where your editor puts down your fiction. I just don't get it. What? You have this kid who is scared to death running from this guy. Yeah so? But then you have him turn and assault the guy in the SUV and punch him and jump on top of him and slam his head against the sidewalk. Yeah so? Your guy in the SUV has a gun! He has a nine millimeter on his hip! Your character has a pack of Skittles and an iced tea, he would never turn and fight a man with a gun. It just wouldnt happen. You stare at your editor. Maybe my character is a bad ass you point out. Your editor demures. Even the worst gang banger in the world wouldn't take on a man with a gun if he doesn't have one. 

So you rethink your story. Hmmm... How about I tell it from the view point the guy in the SUV? Your editor shakes her head. Oh, so now you want to tell it from the viewpoint of a man hunting a young un armed African American with a gun and an SUV?  She shakes her head. Who in the world would empathize with someone like that?

http://www.billhazelgrove.com/

Hunting Trayvon

Yeah ok it's self defence so the lawyer says. Trayvon turned on Zimmerman and he had to pull out his gun to defend himself. If you ever have gone hunting then you know an animal will turn when trapped. Did Zimmerman trap Trayvon with his relentless pursuit, chasing him on foot, reaching out and grabbing him? And when Trayvon tried to get away, pushing Zimmerman away, did he shoot him? Bam. Just shot him because that's what you do when you have a gun and your quarry doesn't.

And that is at the heart of the matter isn't it? One guy had a gun and one guy had a pack of Skittles. One guy had a car and one guy was on foot. One guy was trying to get away and one guy was pursuing. Sure sounds like hunting to me. When you hunt you track your prey. You follow him or her through the woods and try not to make a sound until you are ready. That was the surveillance part. Where Zimmerman is telling the cops about the young black man in the hood. He describes him and starts to trail him. Now he is in the chase part of the hunt.

You are done tracking and see your quarry. You are now figuring out how to take a shot because there is a chance the animal will get away. So you close the gap. This is the part where Zimmeran ignored the cops who told him not to get out and pursue and he did it anyway. Because now he thinks Trayvon is getting away (see 911 tape"they always get away) and now you are confronting the animal and it sees you. And if the animal is trapped or smells danger and cannot get away... then they turn. They bare their teeth, they may even charge.

And here is where Zimmerman demands to know who Trayvon is. Here is where he pulls his gun as Trayvon struggles to get away from him because we all know he went to apprehend and that's where the struggle took place. And it doesn't matter whether the animal struggles or not because you are armed. Here is the part where you shoot the animal you have been hunting. Here is the part where the hunt ends.

Here is the part where you kill.

http://www.billhazelgrove.com/

The Gun Owners Hold Us Hostage

Yeah ok. NRA. I get it. They protect the Second Amendment and all that so I can have a bazooka if somebody crosses my yard or if someone comes into the gated community I am in right now in Florida much like the one Trayvon Williams passed through and some vigilante nut ball can trail me and if he decides I look the wrong way can send me to my maker ala Mr. 357. I get it. But here is my question. Why don't we non gun owners have an organization for our rights? After Trayvon Williams man we need one and we need it now.

The NRA is and has been the bully on the block. Everyone is afraid of these people and why? Because they are ARMED! You sure don't hear the President taking them on. Can you blame him? With enough nut jobs with guns to fill a state would you want to tell them you are taking their guns? And how about all our school shootings? We pride ourselves on putting our children first. Yeah. Right. If we did we would start an all out campaign to get the guns. Yeah we would take on the Second Amendment and all the twisted logic that says someone can purchase a Glock or an automatic weapon and go shoot kids.

But no one says a word. No one wants to take on the NRA. So I say lets form the NGOA. Non Gun Owners Association to stick up for us. We need it now. With Stand Your Ground laws in many states we are all just sitting ducks for dudes looking for a little moving target practice. Hunting humans is the greatest high after all...just ask Zimmerman.

http://www.billhazelgrove.com/

Zimmerman lawyer declares he is not a racist....who cares.

So Zimmerman is not a racist. Trayvon Williams is still dead. Was he a Klansman going after an African American that night? No. He was a vigilante packing heat who came upon his fantasy target. If you have a gun you want to use it. You are carrying your gun and have watched a lot of movies and you see yourself as an avenger. You are going to have to pull out that piece of hardware and have your Dirty Harry moment. Well...do you feel lucky...do you punk?

We all know what really happened. You can piece it together from the conversations and the tapes. Zimmerman was cruising around and saw the black kid in the hoodie. He started to follow him. Trayvon calls his girlfriend and says this dude is following him and tries to get away. Zimmerman calls the cops and feels his pulse kick up and the adrenalin starts pumping. Real life baby. And he has a gun. He trails him even as the dispatcher tells him not to. And then he gets out of his car and approaches his perp.

And Trayvon sees a guy with murder in his heart looking for a crook, looking for a bad guy and like any highschooler he wants to escape the weirdo coming his way. But Zimmerman engages and here is where we have to use our imagination and plug in the pieces. He asks Trayvon what he is doing. He demands identification. Trayvon tries to escape. Zimmerman and he scuffle. Now the tripwire, the safety off for Stand Your Ground stupidity. He pulls out his piece

Trayvon knows what is going to happen and begs for his life (it is on the 911 tapes) but Zimmerman is possessed and fires. And Trayvon goes down with a bullet in his chest. And according to witnesses Zimmerman knows what he did and is over him, staring down. So maybe he was a racist and maybe he wasn't. And maybe it doesn't matter. He shot a kid armed with nothing more than a pack of Skittles. And killed him. Dead. Seventeen.

Isn't that enough?

http://www.billhazelgrove.com/

Stand Your Ground Against the Hooded Skittle Thugs

Yeah. Stand your ground. You have a gun and a car and the kid in the hood has Skittles. So why is Zimmerman still walking around? Could it be Florida justice has a blind white eye?Hmm...maybe. But with Stand Your Ground if someone threatens you or you think they are threatening you or maybe someone tells you they might threaten you or they spit your way....or they walk through your neighborhood with a hoodie and a  pack of Skittles. THREATENING...Oh yeah.

So what is the Justice Department waiting for?Yeah we have this case. What are the facts? An armed man shot a kid in his neighborhood. Was the kid armed? Um. No. Did he have a car?Um. No. Did the man who was armed follow him?Um. Yes. Did he call to him? Yes. Did the kid do anything? He tried to get away. I see...so what happened then? He shot him. Hmph. Did he have anything that might be construed as a weapon? Skittles. What?He had Skittles sir.

So...they have to determine if Zimmerman felt threatened by the kid with Skittles. The high school kid who was trying to get away from the dude packing heat. Yeah. Convene that Grand Jury. Get that Justice Dept investigation going. Yeah...let's find out if a Skittle thrown at sixty miles an hour (average speed for a Skittle thrown) could hurt someone. Yeah. Skittle forensic tests. Le's get to the bottom of  a man threatened with a pack of candy.

Yeah Baby. Justice.

http://www.billhazelgrove.com/