It's pretty disturbing to me that a 16 year old kid can be shot to death going home from a convenience store in the early evening and no one is held responsible for that killing.
Prior to the verdict I decided that I would accept the jury's decision, and I do. They were at the trial and I wasn't. If we don't accept the trial system we lose a foundation of civilization. So, I accept that it was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Zimmerman did not act in self defense. I guess the trial ended up being about the fight that ended with a gunshot. The point of a trial is that the person being accused is supposed to be looked at by the jury as innocent unless proven beyond a reasonable doubt to be guilty. He said it was self defense and it wasn't proven otherwise, so...
But, what about the context? Why did the older man have a gun? Why was he following Martin? How crazy is it to have armed vigilante neighborhood watch people walking around through neighborhoods carrying firearms?
Isn't that a recipe for disaster? Aren't the police specially selected and trained in order to qualify handling guns when dealing with the public? Doesn't Zimmerman prove that armed civilians who volunteer for for these kinds of roles just the opposite of the police? Aren't they un-vetted and untrained?
Aren't they just disasters just waiting to happen? Shouldn't neighborhood watch people be barred from carrying weapons? How about they watch, and report to the police, and let those who are specially trained and seasoned do the rest?
Just a terrible tragedy, and my heart goes out to every black parent in the land. It was a fair trial, but it is a sad chapter in America.
