THE KILLING FIELDS -TRAGEDY STRIKES
I am a webmeister, photographer, consumer advocate, political junkie and writer, in the Tampa Bay area. Nothing is sacred to me on a myriad of subjects. I see wrong, I write. Born in NYC, occasionally speaking English, preferring Brooklyn based meta-phonetic syllabication known as “plain street talk”. I try to write so people will get the drift, i research by asking, being and doing, and the importance of what is being written is truth.
I have been thrown out of popular restaurants for my blog comments on their cuisine, and on radio shows like saying "Steak and Shake must have hired Dr. Kevorkian to train chefs to kill their minuscule meat puck since they all beat it to death on the grill to fit the bun” and I have been escorted out (bounced) from political rallies because I asked the “wrong questions” like “ Sir, how much money did you receive from your PAC group to kill this bill”, and generally I somehow manage to stir the pot it’s the only way to find the meat at the bottom. Thus I carry a weapon, sometimes a backup too for self defense 24/7. Range once a month, long gun twice yearly. Licensed, certified to carry and legal for self protection.
IT HAPPENED AGAIN 10/25/2014
(CNN) -- A gunman opened fire at students in a Washington state school cafeteria on Friday, two the gunned down students at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, were cousins of the shooter, their grandfather said. "All three of them are cousins, and they live right close to each other," By the time the shooting was over, two people -- the gunman and a female student -- were dead and four were wounded, according t and ere all under age 18, they said. The shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Marysville police spokesman said.
Three are "very critically ill" with "very serious" injuries, she said. One is in serious condition. One of the boys, age 14, suffered a jaw injury. The other, age 15, was critically injured in the head. What he saw was freshman Fryberg go up to a table with students, "came up from behind ... and fired about six bullets into the backs of them," Luton told CNN. "They were his friends, so it wasn't just random.”
Teachers herded students into classrooms and ordered a lockdown. Someone called 911, and by 10:40 a.m. local time, police swarmed the building, guns readied. They went room to room, placing tape over doors to mark the ones they'd secured.
One student told CNN that a teacher stopped the gunman from firing on more students when she briefly grabbed his arm, said student Erick Cervantes. The gunman pulled away. "Then I heard another shot," Cervantes said. He believes it was the shot that killed the gunman.
The gun used in the shooting has been traced to Fryberg's father. A Beretta .40-caliber handgun (usually with a hi-cap mag) is believed to have been used, a federal law enforcement source told CNN. "I have no idea what his motive was because yesterday at football practice, he was all fine, talking .... having a good time," he said. "And then today, just horrible. I don't know what went through his head or what caused him to do it."
By all accounts, Fryberg was a popular student. Just a week ago, he had been named the high school's freshman homecoming prince, according to a YouTube video of the ceremony and accounts provided by students to CNN. Multiple social media accounts in Fryberg's name depict him frequently hunting and using rifles. Those accounts say he was a Native American and a member of the Tulalip tribe. But a Twitter account in his name gave a very different picture, that of a teenager with a broken heart. Luton could not confirm reports that Fryberg had been bullied. But two weeks ago, according to Luton, Fryberg got into a fight after somebody said "something racist" to him.
SHOOTING SPORTS
I am a shooter, both with camera and firearm. Surprising how many of my customers do both. Many of the techniques like "leading the target” support each other. I got into shooting at seventeen, went on later into competitive shooting when I could afford it, and became a NROI range officer April 1988 for the shooting USPSA/ IPSC sports. I have been actively involved with the custom gun business learning a lot from Bob Cogan of Accurate Plating, the living Encyclopedia Britannica of firearms. I support 2nd amendment rights and the shooting sports. I am friends with many in the industry but we don’t always agree on all things but what we do agree on is gun safety, love of firearms, 2nd amendment freedom of ownership by sane people, the shooting sports, love of country and family. Period.
Gun safety is the key here, innocent children, injured or killed by ignorance, negligence, thoughtlessness and stupidity. Justice, one errant nut slips through the safety net and a seventeen year old is dead. A case that shocked the nation and just another example of getting away with it… it’s been a big decade for those beating the system. From baby killers to stalkers and cyber bullies.
It will not stop if there is no consequence, brought swiftly and non-reversible. And if you find the parents neglectful, not disciplining their children, careless, thirty days in jail should straighten things out. Put the kid in the cell next to them and after thirty days, some resolution will be in hand. Steel bars are the true tie that binds. Harsh no, make them attend and speak at a few funerals and mass rallies for the deceased to see the pain and suffering.
THE LIES WIN
It’s also been a tough few years with all the shootings that have taken place and the counterbalanced consequence of rhetoric put out by the usual NRA writers public relations department, I wish they would listen to their members more and stop buying Congress. When people die in mass, taking the side of the shooter is not a good idea. One writer I know personally compared their PR to Dr. Goebbels hallucinations during WWII.
Black helicopters, firearms confiscation, civil liberties restrictions and a host of other plain outright lies. It’s sad when politics take over the sporting industry. It’s all about the bribes and the majority of our Congress has been bought, sold, paid for and they all fear the NRA.
Good for business as people with a large spine of paranoia believe the BS and run out and buy guns and thats the bad part. These are people with few, or no skills nor training. Yes, a few gun collectors think they need forty weapons for castle keep. Just ask George Zimmerman, his collection is the perfect NRA package of essentials. If you listen to some, soon they will need a golf bag to hold all their home defense gear. A shotgun, a sniper rifle, an AR or M-16, an AK-47 Kalashnikov and 2000 rounds of ammo to suit the specific tactical attack on their 1/4 acre of the world with chances of one in ten million actually happening.
Don’t blame the guns. But we will eventually have to do something about who can pull the trigger. Good honest folks don’t fall for some of the rhetoric out there. There are enough guns. Instead of what you might of hoped for, "a good chicken in every pot”, we have a bunch of loaded guns under beds, some in the hands of illegals, crooks, anarchists, nutcases and those with mental disabilities.
I hope no one ever gets the phone call from school that there was a shooting and your child was injured or worse, it’s a game changer. But if we all agree to better legislation and take the politics out, with the right to bear arms not infringed upon… that would be a giant step.
"DON’T BLAME THE GUN, ITS THE DUMB PARENTS"
DON’T BLAME THE GUN
It’s a social issue, the Guns are not the problems, as the expression goes, it’s the idiot behind the wheel, the finger on the trigger, and gross neglect. Weapons don’t have brains, children don't know consequence, and neither do some of the parents. They don’t “go off” of their own accord. The sociologist tell us Kids brought up on fighting games on their PS4’s and on line, think the victim will come back for another round and they transfer that repetitive learning one day to the real thing. Not real life.
Responsible people do not “forget”. In the days before the NRA went total political the emphasis was the safety, classes and training as their forefront to hunting and the shooting sports. And we pounded safety, we pounded it in classes and at the range. That’s why I joined and became an R.O and worked in the industry. Not the same group of people today.
REAL TIME - A large match club vs. club. And I got the (honor) job of RO runner with the club champ. And I caught a lot of flack when I DQ’ed the local “A” shooter in a large match when he did an over the horizon reload and slammed the slide forward. His friends were appalled. I got called names. I almost felt threatened.
Being a real champ, he shook my hand and thanked me, he knew he had done a wrong. He was a class act. He said, “ Boy, imagine had I done that in a National Competition”. You can get lazy. The Competitive IPSC and other groups, the real competitors heartily endorse and enforce gun safety.
THE BASICS NEVER CHANGE - SIMPLE RULES AND THE LAW
Always expect that there is a live round in a weapon.
Never allow a weapon, loaded or otherwise, to be pointed at another person. • They don’t keep a loaded gun under the bed, or beneath a pillow, or in a drawer or any other place that a child is physically capable of touching it.
Some states have laws about gun storage, a few really severe. But they are not often enforced. It is illegal to keep a gun where a child may have access to it, unless it is disabled with a trigger lock or locked in a secure box or environment.
Children die in accidental shootings because inattentive parents leave their guns lying around, with ammunition chambered, in unsecured places where untrained shooters can access them.
Only 27 states and Washington, D.C. have child access prevention laws on the books, and those laws vary. widely in scope and strength. It should be made universal, standardized, enforced, period.
When it comes to gun safety, ignorance is negligence, and negligence is too often fatal. There are several levels of firearm safety ignorance that cause fatal accidents. I’ll bet you never heard it expressed this way. I gauge them all as severe.
Parental Stupidity - Ignorance of gun safety, gun placement, under lock and key, overall access to children etc.
Genetics - Parents who want children to be just like Dad, only Dads never truly embraced safety. Mentions it once goes to the range, and forgets everything.
Pheromones- Teaching children guns are macho, manly and so forth. Survival is some thing I believe in but i don’t want a bunch of ten year olds running around with Uzis. Two have died in the past two years at supervised (?) ranges with adults standing right there. Now who stupid, the parents in both cases.
Media, Television, Computer Games, Real War. - Another problem is the media exposure. The news media doesn’t do enough to promote gun safety, the TV has entertainment shows are mostly shooting and violence and lets face it we live in a country with 340 million people and a 100 million have firearms. Having an ongoing war for 13 years certainly qualifies as one of the main endorsers of violence.
REAL LIFE TRAGEDY at 15
Saylor Martine, of Oklahoma, fifteen, died after she was shot in the head while toying with a firearm. She was with her sister. The culprit, according to the police, a semi-auto owned by her parents. It was purchased by Mom for her own protection. So the story goes, she and her sister had been handling the gun when they placed it down on a counter, where it discharged.
No one believes the gun went off by itself, and fifty years in this game and I haven’t seen one go off by itself except in a fire. I’m not buying that, but I’m sure there is enough grief to go around, and the Sheriff is hesitant is doing anything about it. I understand compassion, I don’t understand why the woman who left it accessible isn’t touring the state talking to other parents about responsibility and the price she paid for negligence. An accident means no one is charged, especially the only one who knows the truth. The sister or possibly the mother, but a child is dead and someone was negligent. The mother should of been charged.
TOTALLY AVOIDABLE and CULPABLE NEGLIGENCE
A family man goes to a gun show in his small New England town of Westfield, MA with his son and a camera. It was co-sponsored by the local traffic ticketing Sheriff who had a financial consideration in the show. See picture of this A-Hole below. With an “ instructor" watching, (uncertified, not old enough, the son of scenario, recently recruited, 14 year old) the 8-year-old boy at the gun fair aimed an full auto Uzi submachine gun at a pumpkin and pulled the trigger as his dad reached for a camera.
It was his first time shooting a fully automatic gun, and anyone who has ever fired an UZI or Scepter know these things have the muzzle rise of an ATLAS rocket. It was too much for the 8- year old boy, simply the weapon was too much for him and literally shot his head off with Dad in the beginning proudly filming this important event in his child’s life. No one got charged.
Now gun safety experts — and some gun enthusiasts at the club where the shooting happened — are wondering why such a young child was allowed, permitted, in the same range, in the same field, at the same gun range to fire a full auto weapon used in war. Money, a gun show, lots of vendors showing their wares, you don’t have to be an idiot to figure that one out. And the sheriff put it together.
Local, state and federal authorities are also investigating whether everyone involved had proper licenses or if anyone committed a criminal act. Well there’s the hangup. Most prosecutors are elected or appointed officials and the lobbies are very powerful.
More on this story and the conclusion: http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/01/14/massachusetts.gun.show.verdict/index.html
ON-SITE ACCOUNT - SHERIFF EXONERATED
During the gun show, 8-year-old Christopher Bizilj was firing the micro Uzi when he accidentally shot himself in the head. He died instantly. At the trial, uUpon hearing the verdict, Fleury broke into tears. He later hugged his wife and spoke to reporters outside the courtroom, offering his condolences to the Bizilj family.
"This was meant to be an educational event for people and unfortunately this terrible accident happened," Fleury said, his voice heavy with emotion. "And I do want to express my heartfelt sympathy to the Bizilj family and their friends for this terrible accident.” Christopher's father, Charles Bizilj, was present at the time of the shooting and videotaped the entire incident. Parts of that tape were shown to the jury, which also heard emotional testimony from the father. The trial lasted 10 days.
"I ran over to him. His eyes were open and I saw no reason for him to be on the ground. And I tried to talk to him and he didn't respond. I put my hand behind his head to try to pick him up and there was a large portion of his cranium missing. And I put my hand against the back of his head," Charles Bizilj told members of the Hampden County jury.
Fleury faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted of involuntary manslaughter and up to 10 years for each count of furnishing a machine gun to a minor. His lawyer, Rosemary Scapicchio, had argued that while Fleury helped organize the show, he wasn't directly responsible and hadn't actually given guns to the children there.
Carl Giuffre and Domenico Spano have also been charged in connection with the incident. The two were in charge of the show's shooting range and are accused of having provided the Uzi that killed Christopher Bizilj. Prosecutor William Bennett said he will decide next week whether to proceed with the case against them, given Fleury's acquittal.
LIGHTING STRIKES AGAIN A YEAR OR SO LATER
PHOENIX — The 9-year-old girl who accidentally shot and killed a firing range instructor with an Uzilast week told her mother immediately afterward that the gun was too powerful for her and that it had hurt her shoulder, according to a Mohave County Sheriff's Office report released Tuesday.
The family huddled around the girl, fearing she was injured, and did not realize that instructor Charles Vacca, 39, was wounded until another employee ran over, according to the report. After realizing what had occurred, the girl's parents immediately removed her and their other two children from the property and brought them to the nearby restaurant so they wouldn't see what happened, the report states.
The New Jersey family had been vacationing in Las Vegas and on Aug. 25 was shuttled to Bullets and Burgers, the firing range at Last Chance property in White Hills, Ariz. The family had taken a ride on a monster truck before heading to the shooting range, according to the report.
The girl's father was the first to fire the weapon, a mini Uzi 9mm, and then the girl took her turn. With the girl's mother recording, Vacca showed the 9-year-old how to stand and shoot the gun, allowing her to fire a few rounds.
Range instructor Ross Miller witnessed the incident, and told deputies that he saw the girl start to shoot the weapon, and the recoil sent it straight up into the air and "crossed the path where Charles had his head," the report stated. Employees immediately started applying pressure to Vacca's head wound and called 911.
Medical personnel arrived and stabilized Vacca before transporting him to the University Medical Center in Las Vegas via helicopter. Vacca passed away shortly thereafter, according to the report.
Investigators collected evidence from the scene, including the firearm, the magazine and four live rounds. Deputies were instructed to retrieve copies of the release waivers signed by the family, but were told by employees that the waivers had blown away after the incident.
News of Vacca's death sparked a national discussion on gun safety and whether there are ever enough safety precautions in place when an automatic weapon is in the hands of a child. But prosecutors are not filing charges in the case. What the hell is an automatic weapon doing in a child’s hand?
MORE TRAGEDY - AND ALL AVOIDABLE
• In Kentucky, a five year old, just given a rifle, a sort of rite of passage in some families, left out in the open in a corner of the room, loaded and he proceeded to shoot his sister who was four.
• 3-year-old Jad Speights, accidentally shot and killed himself last month with his uncle’s handgun, which he found in a backpack.
• Jarvis Jackson (1) was accidentally shot and killed by a boy (4) last month after their baby sitter brought a handgun to the house for personal protection and then fell asleep after leaving the gun loaded and unsecured on the kitchen table.
• 4-year-old Cody Ryan Hall, who accidentally shot and killed himself in April with a family-owned handgun he found in an unlocked gun case.
• A six-year-old Toms River New Jersey boy accidentally shot by Brandon Holt, 4-year-old neighbor on Monday night, has died. Police said Holt was shot in the head by his friend after the younger boy went into his home on McCormick Avenue and somehow got his hands on a .22-caliber rifle. the boy found the rifle under a bed. Police said the 4-year-old then went outside and accidentally shot the 6-year-old, who was sitting in a quad nearby.
The boy’s father, Anthony Senatore, was arrested and charged. Five counts of second-degree child endangerment one count of third-degree child endangerment. Each second-degree count could potentially bring 5 to 10 years in prison, which means that if Senatore is convicted, he could theoretically face up to 50 years in prison.
• Texas: Johnson County Austin McCord, “forgot he had a loaded magazine in the AK-47” when he pulled the trigger, shooting the girl in the stomach, on her 13th birthday, in a gun-cleaning accident must not watch much news.
• I guess the Dallas man who rushed his bloody grandson to the hospital pays more attention. He is fortunate as his 4-year-old grandson, who was visiting his home Wednesday, found a loaded handgun beneath a pillow. The little boy shot himself in the shoulder — but he’ll recover.
DON’T BLAME THE GUN
It’s a social issue, the Guns are not the problems, as the expression goes, it’s the idiot behind the wheel, the finger on the trigger, and gross neglect. Weapons don’t have brains, children don't know consequence, and neither do some of the parents. They don’t “go off” of their own accord.
IN THE SAME VEIN THERE ARE THE GOOD AND THE BAD IN THE RANKS OF OWNERS
Responsible people do not “forget”. In the days before the NRA went total political there were classes and training as their forefront to hunting and the shooting sports. And we pounded safety, we pounded it in classes and at the range. That’s why I joined and became an R.O and worked in the industry. Not the same group of people today. The NRA is all about money and politics.
A GOOD GUY: A large local match. And I got the honor since no one else wanted or dared to run as the range officer with the local champ who was very popular with the club. And I caught a lot of flack when I DQ’ed this local “A” shooter, he did an over the horizon reload and slammed the slide forward. His friends were appalled. I got called names. I almost felt threatened.
Being a real champ, he shook my hand and thanked me, he knew he had done a wrong. He was a class act. He said, “ Boy, imagine had I done that in a National Competition”. You can get lazy. The Competitive IPSC and other groups, the real competitors heartily endorse and enforced gun safety.
When it comes to gun safety, ignorance is negligence, and negligence is too often fatal. And the other side of wrong is bad thinking...
THE TRAYVON - ZIMMERMAN ENCOUNTER
Its time to start thinking about a highly concealable self-defense carry firearm, the bad guys already have thought of it. But it is a tremendous responsibility and for some, even good intentions can turn afoul. Unless you live in a cave… this incident has gone national and we all know what happens during an election year. Even when two theoretical good guys get together, the end result can be a tragedy. Fate and mayhem have no boundaries. Politicians wake up and start thinking gun bans.
The NRA wakes up and starts pouring money into political campaigns. Something is wrong here as 84% of the NRA membership want tighter restrictions like the background checks. I guess the 2% of the staff at the NRA who already has your money decided differently. By fighting restriction, they get more money from the gun lobby. Follow the money.
The fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman took place on the night of February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida, United States. Martin was a 17-year-old African American high school student. George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old mixed-race Hispanic, was the neighborhood watch coordinator for the gated community where Martin was temporarily staying and where the shooting took place.
Following an earlier call from Zimmerman, police arrived within two minutes of a gunshot during an altercation in which Zimmerman fatally shot Martin, who did not have any weapons. Zimmerman was taken into custody, treated for head injuries, then questioned for five hours. The police chief said that Zimmerman was released because there was no evidence to refute Zimmerman's claim of having acted in self-defense, and that under Florida's Stand Your Ground statute, the police were prohibited by law from making an arrest.
BOTTOM LINE
A good guy with a weapon thinks judgement to confront him he sees a bad guy doing something wrong. Unfortunately the youngster was in the wrong place at the wrong time and the good guy makes a, bad decision to engage, after being told specifically not to engage by 911. Officers were already on the way, he confronts the seventeen year old.
The seventeen year old thinking he is being attacked defends himself and dies during the confrontation by a single fatal wound at zero point blank range. He was outgunned, he had no weapon. He was fighting for his life being outweighed by the other good guy. Tragedy, a single shot and a 17 year old is dead.
A well known custom gunsmith, in the shooting industry for forty years and has appeared as an expert witness many times, hit it on the head, this whole case is based on who is the aggressor. As predicted there is plenty of conjecture, opinions by those who weren’t there, witnesses who heard but did not see, more opinions, slants, spins, public outcry, those who will use it for political reasons, but the bottom line is two good guys entered the arena of life and only one came out. The case is on fast track and will come to fruition sooner rather then later as this is a no nonsense judge and this case has national following.
6/24/2013
This week the case went to trial in Sanford, Florida, about 100 miles from my home. I attended one day, a circus. George was armed with a Kel-Tec 9mm, Trayvon Martin was warmed with skittles. Already it is TV reality show HLN political with opinions, slants, fake juries, 24/7 BS, and those talking heads who know little but have great hair and get paychecks for telling you what they think…many times undocumented, filled with, usually a large dose of lawn fertilizer. The bottom line is someone is dead, in the bottom of a hole, thats about as bottom as you can get. And someone overstepped their bounds.
THE TITANIC
I keep thinking what I call “The Titanic Syndrome”. As you know there were thousand plus lives lost and they blamed the iceberg. Icebergs can’t defend themselves.
The iceberg was doing its thing, just floating along, and along comes the Titanic running on all eight boilers by an over-exuberant Captain trying to break the record after being coached by the designer looking for glory. The iceberg didn’t hit the ship, the ship hit the iceberg.
A seventeen year old, still basically and legally a child, was having an Arizona iced tea, carrying a loaded bag of Skittle’s, he was bringing home for his dad. He was confronted by block captain of their sub-division, the eyes only division of law enforcement. Not a certified member of any police organization. Zimmerman was warned by the 911 officer to stand back and wait for the police. He disobeyed and confronted the child. The Neighborhood watch is specific about their block captains not being armed. Their role is observation.
BOTTOM LINE
A prominent lawyer got George Zimmerman off. He was acquitted by one of the slickest manipulators I have ever seen in the courtroom. It was all drama, drama, drama. Zimmerman walked out the door after killing a child. He claimed self defense, it should have been an open and shut case but the prosecution botched it. Mark O'Mara, the attorney who successfully defended George Zimmerman in his second-degree murder trial this year, will no longer represent his notorious client.
"I am not representing George Zimmerman in his recent domestic altercation case or his impending divorce case," O'Mara told CNN. Although Zimmerman's murder trial is over, his legal battles are far from over. On Monday, 9/11/2013 Zimmerman was briefly detained after a dispute involving his estranged wife, Shellie, and her father, David Bryant Dean. He had his gun with him. Authorities were called to the home after Zimmerman’s wife, Shellie, claimed he threatened her and her father. Although charges were not filed, Shellie Zimmerman did file for divorce soon after. The two declined to press charges, and George Zimmerman was not charged or arrested in the dispute.
Shellie Zimmerman filed for divorce last week. The run-in was just one in a number of incidents in a summer rife with ups and downs for the former neighborhood watchman. After his acquittal on July 13, George Zimmerman reportedly helped a family escape from an overturned SUV, according to the Seminole County Sheriff's Office. Zimmerman has also been pulled over in traffic twice. The first time, he was given a verbal warning for a traffic violation in Texas. The second time was in Florida last week, when he was issued a $256 ticket for speeding.
O'Mara, now a legal analyst for CNN, continues to be the attorney of record in the impending defamation lawsuit against NBC; Pennsylvania attorney Jim Beasley will be the lead attorney on the case. He will also still be involved with outstanding sanction motions and recovery of costs from the state of Florida for expenses related to Zimmerman's murder trial. George Zimmerman to ask for $200,000 from Florida for court costs
PHOTO-OPS
Marking his third appearance in public since being acquitted of second-degree murder in the death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman showed up at a gun manufacturer in Cocoa Beach, Florida. TMZ released a photo of Zimmerman shaking hands with an unidentified employee of Kel-Tec where he was allegedly looking into purchasing a Kel-Tec KSG pump-action tactical shotgun.
The 12-round, 12-gauge shotgun, which retails for just under $1,200, is manufactured by the same company that made the PF-9 gun that Zimmerman used to kill Trayvon Martin. The Kel-Tec pistol was returned to him and he made a personal, looked like a publicity appearance at Kel-Tec, we call it a photo op, when the best thing he could of done was... make like a worm and go really deep underground.
I am very familiar with Kel-Tec in the industry, many suppliers, vendors and customers like their products, my associates do a lot of work for them and this in no way reflects anything about their company. I owned a Kel-Tec .380 as a carry concealed. They make highly concealable, popular reliable firearm products, and have a good reputation. This is all about whose hands it wound up in. I sold mine after I saw that picture.
REALLY STUPID MOVE
I am not happy with the fact they took and allowed photos to leak (TMZ) that made it appear he was a hero poster boy for Kel-Tec. I won’t post it. Not a decision that anything is wrong with their product. In the small concealed affordable firearm, one of the best.
He is the poster boy for killing an unarmed child. Thats my bottom line. If Trayvon was white, George would be hanged by now. The idiot in the photo with him (and I don’t care if he owns Kel-Tec) is all smiles at the notoriety they are getting. I wouldn’t want him on my property. This is all about a loose cannon out on the streets that justice slid right past, blinded by shovels of indecision heaped on six women jurors by slick-ass attorneys and now he continues to endanger people.
GUN SHOW CANCELLED IF GEORGE SHOWS UP
George Zimmerman, the man who shot and killed Trayvon Martin, was the featured guest at a central Florida gun show this weekend, where he autographed photographs for customers.
Organizers of the New Orlando Gun Show almost canceled the event because of backlash, but instead agreed to relocate Zimmerman’s signing to a smaller venue off -site.
Zimmerman wanted to return a favor to The Arms Room, an Orlando gun store that supported him after he killed Martin. “The concept of being able to pay them back for what they did for me and seeing my supporters face to face was something I just couldn’t pass up,” Zimmerman told Fox 35. On Twitter, he described the controversy as “another company bowing to threats of being labeled racist.”
The only thing Zimmerman is famous for is killing an unarmed black teenager. And he is, in many ways, the poster child for Florida’s Stand Your Ground law. “I walk around armed; I walk around with a bullet proof vest; it’s not so much for my safety as it is so much for those around me,” he said. “I can be around my family and something might happen to them. There’s children around me, etc. Those threats… I have to be able to defend myself like any American.”
Since the trial, Zimmerman has remained in the headlines for two dropped charges of domestic violence and even agreeing to a later-canceled charity celebrity boxing match— on what would have been Martin’s birthday.
BAD APPLE FALLS AGAIN - 11/18/2013
Another charge of felonious assault waving his new Kel-Tec Shotgun in the face of another woman (his estranged real wife left him saying something about him being crazy). Her name is Samantha Scheibe the current girlfriend of George Zimmerman. 911 recorded a call from Scheibe on Monday afternoon, stating Zimmerman had pointed a gun in her face. Zimmerman was arrested. The charge domestic violence, his bail was set at $9,000 after a night in jail.
Scheibe told a 911 dispatcher that Zimmerman was “in my house breaking on my s--- because I asked him to leave. He has his freakin’ gun, breaking all of my stuff right now,” according to the call released by the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office.
Zimmerman also got on the phone with 911 to tell his side of the story, claiming he didn’t want to rile up his girlfriend because she was pregnant. Authorities later disputed Zimmerman's assertion and said Scheibe was not pregnant.
His latest arrest for allegedly pointing and cocking a shotgun at his new girlfriend is raising questions about whether Zimmerman has deeper issues around judgment and violence that the Florida justice system ultimately overlooked in acquitting him of murdering Trayvon Martin.
Appearing at the same Seminole County courthouse where he was tried this summer, Mr. Zimmerman on Tuesday posted $9,000 bail, agreeing to wear an electronic monitoring anklet and give up his four guns.
In court, prosecutors also alleged that Zimmerman choked his girlfriend a week earlier, an incident she didn't report at the time.
Instead, much of the post-verdict news-media focus has been on Zimmerman’s troubled journey from obscurity to national poster boy of the Frickin Idiots Association (FIA) – and whether, given his subsequent domestic violence problems, the jury might of really missed the boat and put a potential killer back on the street.
A central question of the trial, after all, was the extent to which Zimmerman precipitated the encounter by confronting Trayvon on a rainy night in a Sanford, Fla., condo complex.
This arrest Monday 11/18/2013 indicates a lesson to those who went willingly to the side that Zimmerman was not an aggressive actor, given that it’s uncommon to have revealed repeatedly that someone is a sort of serially aggressive person with anger management issues after they’ve been acquitted of a murder charge,” says George Ciccariello-Maher, a political science professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
GUARANTEED, THIS WILL AMEND THE STAND YOUR GROUND LAW
- NOT WITH THE GUN LOBBY IN TALLAHASSEE -
With legislature in the works once again, and with lots of heat coming from the "Stand your ground laws" which went many states have adopted and already some lawyers have abused, this all comes at the wrong time.
Florida now has a "Stand Your Ground Commission looking at the law". It is composed of community leaders, law officials and legal authorities. It has only one, call it a representative of the NRA on board. The Florida Congressmen and Senators fostered this bill a couple years ago with heavy FINANCIAL campaign donations and support of the NRA and not that much is expected to change. Mrs. Hammer who is the Florida Rep of the NRA is very strong here politically. She carries the checkbook.
Maybe as the Vegas odds-makers have it, a change in wordage by amendment, not much more. The bottom line, political as usual, nothing will happen. The head of the committee, the Lieutenant Governor resigned because of another scandal she got involved with. Florida is possibly one of the most politically corrupt states. The Florida Legislature voted and since many of the fine folks we stuffed into Tallahassee have already received their yearly bribes nothing was ratified on the “Stand you ground law” as predicted and it will soon get worse.
Nothing happened as expected
Florida gun owners to pack concealed heat during evacuations
HERALD/TIMES TALLAHASSEE BUREAU- Michael Sickler
TALLAHASSEE -- A bill that allows legal gun owners to conceal their weapons without a permit during mandatory evacuations continued to gain support in the Senate Tuesday despite concerns from law enforcement. The Community Affairs Committee voted 8-1 to pass SB 296, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, that would remove any criminal penalties for those found carrying weapons in public without a permit during evacuations ordered by the governor.
Carrying a concealed firearm without a permit is a third-degree felony, punishable by up to a five years in prison. That’s an undue burden on gun owners, said Marion Hammer, the former national president of the National Rifle Association who spoke in support of the bill, along with gun rights group Florida Carry. For them, the bill wasn’t just about defending the 2nd Amendment; it’s also a protection for residents left to fend for themselves during a crisis such as a hurricane.
“When an (evacuation) order is given, it sends the message that you’re on your own,” said Hammer. “Sheriff’s deputies aren’t going to be there to help you, the National Guard’s not going to be there to help you. You’ve got to take your family and get out. You’re responsible for their safety. Taking your firearms with you is not only your right, it’s your responsibility.”
The notion of guns as a duty — not just a right — is a call to arms that has found receptive ears after a spate of high profile shootings. In February, South Carolina made it legal to carry concealed weapons in bars. In Georgia, the Legislature passed a bill last month that would allow people to carry guns into bars and public areas of airports while allowing felons to claim the “stand your ground” defense. And in Tennessee Tuesday, senators voted to let gun owners carry weapons openly without a permit.
In Florida, a bill that expands the state’s “stand your ground” law to shield from prosecution those who fire warning shots awaits Gov. Rick Scott’s signature. Bills arming teachers and principals are advancing as well. Meanwhile, the House companion to Brandes’ concealed weapons bill has already passed the House and awaits a floor vote.
But the Florida Sheriff’s Association opposes the bill, claiming it would be difficult to enforce. The bill only says a permit isn’t needed while the gun owner is in the act of complying with the evacuation order, which is too vague, said John Rutherford, the sheriff of Duval County.
“What does that mean?” Rutherford said. “When I get to my brother-in-law’s house three counties away and I stay there four days, am I still complying because I’m evacuated? I don’t want good people getting arrested because they don’t know what ‘in the act of complying’ means, and an officer doesn’t know that it means. So let’s define that.”
FEDERAL - THE NEW CARRY PASSED IN CONGRESS…NOW THERE IS THE SENATE
By a bipartisan vote of 272-154, the House passed a measure that will enable non-resident gun owners to carry a concealed firearm across state borders. Forty-three Democrats joined 229 Republicans in supporting the measure, which had 245 co-sponsors. Just seven Republicans joined 147 Democrats in voting against the bill. H.R. 822, the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011, allows gun owners with valid state-issued concealed firearm permits to carry a concealed firearm in other states that also allow concealed carry.
“The Second Amendment is a fundamental right to bear arms that should not be constrained by state boundary lines,” said the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas. “This legislation enhances public safety and protects the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment.
Currently, Illinois is the only state that bans individuals from carrying concealed firearms, while 49 states allow concealed carry permits. Forty of those that do allow it extend some degree of reciprocity to permit holders from other states. This bill simply applies the states’ reciprocal agreements nationwide.
The bill is unlikely to pass in the Democratic-controlled Senate, where companion legislation has not yet been introduced. It didn’t.