The Missing NRA response???

The Daily Kos hits the nail on the head with:

Why Isn't NRA Arguing Trayvon Martin Tragedy Could Have Been Averted if Only He Had a Gun?

Seriously!  Come on--stand your ground has nothing to do with it?

Yeah, but what if Trayvon did have a gun?  Anyway, the Daily Kos goes on:

Sometimes, silence is much more revealing than those words actually spoken. Such is the case with respect to how the NRA has responded to the George Zimmerman verdict: with virtual silence.

One might expect the NRA to respond to Trayvon Martin's death by calling upon young, black men across this country to arm themselves, since the only way to truly protect oneself from the threat of violence in this country is to own a firearm. To exercise one's Second Amendment right.

After all, that's how it's responded to any number of shootings in which white people have been killed in mass shootings.

Of course, by expect, I mean the opposite, an ironic point made by a Tweet yesterday from Anonymous:

The Daily Kos gives the following conclusion for the silence about having an armed victim in this case:

We know the reason why. For when the NRA lobbied hard for the Stand Your Ground law in Florida which allowed Zimmerman to murder a young, black youth, it did so with a vision of white 'victimhood' – and gun sales to white Americans – in mind.

Of course, the "pro-gun" side likes to point out how gun laws are racist.  I mean when the black panthers started parading around with guns, we saw a slew of gun control laws come out.

But, white guys go trotting around with assault rifles and making seditious remarks?

Yeah, it's pretty clear what's going on here?

Gun owners aren't victims--they are the ones killing people.

And more than are few are getting away with murder.

Ron King Responds to the Charges of Using Trayvon Martin Targets

Further to our post about the decision to fire him.

Florida Cop Fired for Trayvon Martin Targets

In February 2012, Trayvon Martin, 17, was shot and killed in Sanford, Florida

CNN

A Florida police sergeant was fired for possessing several so-called Trayvon Martin shooting targets, authorities said Saturday.

Sgt. Ron King of Port Canaveral Police Department was fired Friday after an internal review investigated how he offered the hoodie paper shooting targets to two fellow officers, said John Walsh, interim CEO of the Canaveral Port Authority.

King, who bought the targets on the Internet, and other officers at the training site were on duty at the time, the affiliate said. Port officials said King had been employed at the police department since January 2011, the affiliate said.

I would think this is a bit of an over-reaction.  How many times have we seen a cop actually misuse his weapon and not lose the job?

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Does this make a difference?

Victim on the left, Killer on the right

Get Away with Murder Laws--gotta love 'em.

New bail for Zimmerman $1 million

Cross posted from Penigma.blogspot.com
This guy is lucky he won't be spending every day until trial behind bars; and I'd give it a 50/50 chance  he does something else that gets bail revoked between now and trial. The man tried to deceive the court; his wife tried to deceive the court; the only difference was one of them lied by omission and the other by commission. Obtaining a second passport when only turning in one, the case is very good that these two were making arrangements to skip the country with money if things didn't go their way.

These are not good examples of innocent or law abiding people, they are people trying to scam and game the system, which makes their statements questionable. I'm still shaking my head over the allegation that Trayvon Martin stated "you got me" when Zimmerman shot him. That's bad dialog out of a z-grade old western movie; the other lines attributed to Martin are just as implausible. These are NOT believable people, and those who support them, those who gave them their hard earned money are just plain gullible.

From the STrib:

ORLANDO, Fla. - A Florida judge ruled Thursday that George Zimmerman can be released from jail a second time on $1 million bond, saying he set the bail amount significantly higher because Zimmerman may have been hiding money as part of a plot to flee the country.
Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester had revoked Zimmerman's $150,000 bond last month after prosecutors told the judge Zimmerman and his wife misled the court about how much money they had during an April bond hearing. Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.
"It is entirely reasonable for this court to find that, but for the requirement that he be placed on electronic monitoring, the defendant and his wife would have fled the United States with at least $130,000 of other people's money," Lester wrote.
Prosecutors said a website Zimmerman created for his legal defense had raised $135,000 at the time of his first bond hearing. Zimmerman and his wife did not mention the money then, and Shellie Zimmerman even said the couple had limited resources because she was a student and he wasn't working.
The judge made his decision after listening last week to Zimmerman's attorney and a forensic financial analyst explain why he wasn't more forthcoming.
The judge expressed his unhappiness with Zimmerman and said that his actions suggest a possibility that he was preparing to flee to avoid prosecution.
"Under any definition, the defendant has flaunted the system," Lester wrote in the order. "The defendant has tried to manipulate the system when he has been presented the opportunity to do so."
Lester said he was granting bond because Zimmerman posed no threat to the community, and Florida law requires that most defendants receive bond if they pose no threat and can assure their presence for trial. The judge's order requires Zimmerman to be electronically monitored and residing in Seminole County, prohibits him from opening a bank account or obtaining a passport and implements a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. Zimmerman had been allowed to leave Florida under the conditions of his first bond release.
Prosecutors previously argued Zimmerman and his wife talked in code during recorded jailhouse conversations about how to transfer the donations to different bank accounts. For example, George Zimmerman at one point asked how much money they had. She replied "$155." Prosecutors allege that was code for $155,000. Their reference to "Peter Pan" was code for the PayPal system through which the donations were made, prosecutors said.
Zimmerman's attorney Mark O'Mara sparred with prosecutors over those finances last week and questioned why his client is in jail at all, arguing that Martin's actions led to his death. O'Mara did not immediately return a phone message Thursday.
O'Mara ultimately decided against calling his client to the stand during last Friday's hearing, unlike during the first bond hearing, when Zimmerman apologized to Martin's family.
The defense attorney called Zimmerman's father to testify, and played a chilling 911 call from the Feb. 26 night when Martin was killed. The call includes a disputed cry for help and the fatal gunshot. Robert Zimmerman said he was sure that was his son's cry.
Shellie Zimmerman has since been charged with perjury. She is out of jail on $1,000 bond and her arraignment is set for July 31.
Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for fatally shooting the unarmed 17-year-old Martin on Feb. 26 at a gated apartment community in Sanford. Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty and claims the shooting was self-defense under the state's "stand your ground" law.
Martin's parents and supporters claim that the teenager was targeted because he was black and that Zimmerman started the confrontation that led to the shooting. Zimmerman's father is white and his mother is Hispanic.

The 44 days between the shooting and Zimmerman's arrest inspired nationwide protests, led to the departure of the Sanford police chief and prompted a U.S. Justice Department probe.

Stand Your Ground Laws to Be Federally Investigated for Racism

Dehumanizing target,
clearly of a black person
from the hands, but no
face; an attempt to justify
fear of a group, an illustration
of racial profiling and bigotry

Not surprising, the Shoot First Laws appear to have racial overtones, given this in the news.  It is worth noting here that the Trayvon Martin shooting exemplified the problems with the laws - they have a flawed concept and are a typical more gun selling right wing solution in search of a problem.  Right wing solutions, with or without an actual problem tend to be more punitive and restrictive, and consistently less fair than egalitarian and inclusive actual solutions to properly defined problems where the public good is genuinely served, not special interests.

So the following announcement should not come as a surprise; what surprises me is that the DoJ didn't beat them to it.

 It should also come as no surprise that the Florida Governor is not acting fairly in establishing a review of the law in Florida.  Want to bet he gets a lot of NRA money, directly or indirectly, and that he has participated in or benefited from ALEC?

And if you have any doubt that this is NRA driven legislation to sell more guns, the fact that the NRA is providing special insurance to help shooters get a free pass for killing people with the guns they help sell should be a tip off.

U.S. Commission On Civil Rights To Investigate ‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws For Racial Bias
By Judd Legum on Jun 10, 2012 at 10:07 am

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights announced it will launch an inquiry into so-called “Stand Your Ground” legislation for racial bias. The laws, which gained notoriety after the shooting of Trayvon Martin, eliminated the duty to retreat from a confrontation that has existed as part of the common law for hundreds of years.
According to the Commission, there are “some indicators of racial bias” in how the laws have been implemented. From the release:

Data compiled by the Wall Street Journal shows a near-doubling of justifiable homicides from 2005-2011 in states where SYG [Stand Your Ground] has passed. Moreover, their data shows that while white killers of black victims comprises only 3.1% of all homicides, such cross-racial killing constitute 15.6% of justifiable homicides.

A separate study by the FBI found “34% of cases involving a white shooter killing a black person were deemed as a justifiable homicide. Meanwhile, in similar situations, when the shooter was black and the victim was white, the homicide was ruled justifiable only 3.3% of the time.” (my emphasis added - DG)

The committee plans to hold hearings and release the findings of their study within one year.
In the last 7 years, 23 states have adopted “Stand Your Ground” legislation at the urging of the right wing American Legislative Exchange Council.
Florida Governor Rick Scott has also convened a committee to study Stand Your Ground but has stacked the group with supporters of the law.