Even if he dident this guy is screwed. If i was in his shoes i woulda fled the country on bail.

I don’t think it was first degree murder (premeditated) but I have no idea if he was really fearing for his life or was just justifying owning a gun.  There are a lot of people who own and carry guns who have watched too much tv and don’t quite understand the ramification of killing someone–you are only justified to kill when you are about to be killed.  Plus on TV and in the movies the crows cheers when "the bad guy" gets wasted, every time–Americal loves violence–and in real life a real person suffers, dies, and leaves a family behind while the shooter pays for that decision the rest of his life one way or another, 

I have a concealed weapons permit and I am one of those people who are "skilled".  However, if someone is going to rob me or if I am just going to get beat up, I understand I do not have the right to pull out a gun and waste the attacker and people have to understand it is best to run away or get away if you can.  If someone breaks into my house and is brandishing a machete, if someone is pointing a gun at me it is a whole other scenario.  The thing is it takes a lot of practice and it takes a lot of self control to have that kind of power at your command and my issue is a lot, and maybe too many, people carry lethal weapons for all the wrong reasons and are very underqualified to have one.

Still, the facts clearly demonstrate the highest violent crime and murder rates are in the states that have the most restrictive gun control–this is well correlated.

I don’t know all the facts in this case–clearly the media is whipping up sentiments without any facts for the sake of ratings and advertising revenue.  I do know someone is dead, and it seems like that kid didn’t have to die, and that is the bad part. 

Not following it really but I hope he rots in a cell for the rest of his life.

What he did to that boy was a travesty.

I’ve been following it pretty closely and I definitely think, based on the current facts, that it was murder. Premeditated murder, no, but far from the self defense claims he presents. I’m interested in seeing what else comes out in the trial. Regardless, the whole situation could have been entirely avoided if Zimmerman had listened to the 911 dispatcher and NOT FOLLOWED TRAYVON MARTIN.

"Shit, he’s running"
-"Are you following him? We don’t need you to do that."

"These assholes always get away."

I think those quotes say a lot in and of themselves. My two cents fwiw.

Oh, see, I dodn’t know that.  Runnig someone down and shooting them is 2nd degree murder.  He doesn’t have a chance of beating this one, and he should be punished for this.  Alternately, he should have to devote all of his life and all of his wages for the rest of his life to the kid’s family.  Or rot in jail til dead.

He also looks like he will be trading some goodtime for some cheeseburgers in prison

Im not really following the trial cause i feel like the media is pimping this story for all they can trying to stir up racial shit. I dont feel like with all the media attention this guy could ever get a fair trial, especially after the President went on TV and made his "my son would look like that comment". I hear a lot of people saying that because he was only being punched that Zimmerman had no cause to shoot the kid. Im reminded of a story that was in the news a few months ago. You can read the news story here….. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/08/us-usa-utah-soccer-idUSBRE9470ZR20130508 . A 17 year old kid out in the midwest was playing soccer and got too many flags called so the ref expelled him from the game. The kid hit the ref once in the head and it killed him. A punch can be just as deadly as a bullet, and i can only speak for myself but if you start punching me while im armed, then yes im going to use whatever weapon i have to eliminate you as a threat. Call it being a pussy if you want to, i like living and try my best to avoid fighting, but if im attacked and have no choice then they asked for whatever they get. The whole thing of only using hands only applies to boxing. In the real world if you value being alive you will use whatever means you have available to win in a fight. Im sure there are plenty of peeps that will argue that point and say they would just punch back and take their beating if need be, but thats easy to say when you arent actually in the middle of a fight. I’ve been in a few fist fights that the other guy was losing so they pulled a knife, grabbed a rock etc etc. In my younger days drinking and fighting was a weekend hobby. Now that im older id rather just shoot yer ass and be done with it. Just my two cents worth……. :passone:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q81LJoi1ss4

?

That’s why you aren’t on the jury.  I don’t even know if it is race related, byut that’s clearly the angle the media is hyping up.  Race relations stories are always good to take attention away from other news–watch the patterns people.  I still don’t think he set out to murder someone, but if he did chase someone down and shoot them he is a murderer.  If someone runs away that is the end of it–be thankful the confrontation is over and call the cops or whatever. 
I still think the problem is too many people think they are gangstas or cops.  Too much violence on TV, the "heros" are always shooting people.

I don’t know. that is really hard to say.  Lots of white people are mean and violent psychopaths.  Being a threat isn’t really about skin color or whatever. 

Yeah, but he had a history of calling the cops on random black people. I guess they’re allowing recordings of some of those calls into the trial as evidence, so there must be some correlation there.