Learning from Zimmerman's Mistakes.

[pritch]

See, what I wanted to talk about was the responsibility that we have for our own safety, and how we can learn from others to mitigate the risk of being forced into a self defense situation...

I know. Sorry to hijack your thread. Perhaps it is still too soon.

One takeaway is that whatever you do in advance will be twisted to be used against you. Took a course on the legal issues? Obviously wanted to find a way to get away with it. Study martial arts? Obviously looking to hurt people. Carry a spare magazine? Must have been planning a mass shooting. Wearing a POV camera or audio recorder? Wow! this monster wanted a trophy reel of his kill. Decisions you make in the heat of a life or death encounter will be second-guessed by the prosecution, the media, and those you thought would "get it".

I guess the best we can do is prepare diligently, exercise discretion in our behavior, be able to articulate our reasons for our actions, and recognize that if we end up ever having to shoot, it could very well ruin our lives. As Patrick Swayze said in Roadhouse, "Nobody wins a fight."

 

[R. Johnson]

I know. Sorry to hijack your thread. Perhaps it is still too soon.

One takeaway is that whatever you do in advance will be twisted to be used against you. Took a course on the legal issues? Obviously wanted to find a way to get away with it. Study martial arts? Obviously looking to hurt people. Carry a spare magazine? Must have been planning a mass shooting. Wearing a POV camera or audio recorder? Wow! this monster wanted a trophy reel of his kill. Decisions you make in the heat of a life or death encounter will be second-guessed by the prosecution, the media, and those you thought would "get it".

I guess the best we can do is prepare diligently, exercise discretion in our behavior, be able to articulate our reasons for our actions, and recognize that if we end up ever having to shoot, it could very well ruin our lives. As Patrick Swayze said in Roadhouse, "Nobody wins a fight."

I think this is a fantastic point, and not one that I really thought about. You did see that come up in the trial, and it's really very disquieting to see them dig that far into his life while trying to prove their case. These days just being prepared is a crime. I can only imagine if I were the subject of a self defense trial. "He was in the military, they desensitized him to killing." Wow, I really do think that is something very important to think about.

 

[dwgumm]

Standard rules for the neighborhood patrols I used to organize required watch volunteers to stay in their vehicles. The best gunfight is the one you are not involved in. Regardless of what he had the right to do, he should have stayed in his car and let the police check it out. I think, considering the outcome, Mr. Zimmerman would be a much happier man today had he stayed in his car.

 

[twoguns?]

so walking down the street is reason enough to be followed. if you're walking sown the street, and somebody's trailing you, do you ignore him, or confront? what should trayvon have done? run? hide? confront his aggressor?
its a ****** situation, started by zimmerman, and ended by zimmerman.

again, the lesson is leave people alone. don't tread on anyone. both could have handled the situation better, sure. but there wouldn't have been a situation if george had stayed in his car.

Actually he was cutting between house , short-cutting, this is what got GZ's attention.
Oh and it was a gated community and GZ was the neighbor hood patrol.
Oh and TM was new in the neighborhood due to the fact his mom sent him to his dads house for disciniplinary measures.
in my neighborhood we watch through a scope

 

[twoguns?]

People need to learn to take a beating like they did back in the old days. Too quick to pull the triggers seems like these days thinking their lives are 'in danger'. How do you assess quickly while in the heat of the moment if your life is in danger enough to shoot? For me its pretty simple, I have to have been attacked with a knife or have a gun pulled on me. Someone jumping on me to beat me is just going to get a beating right back if I can get up. Im not bragging, I dont have to. I put in the time training, many many years, so it is literally what I would plan to do unless of course I was knocked unconscious. But as far as I can tell Martin seemed to be at a size disadvantage, he just had the jump on the guy in his favor. Its all hindsight though now anyways and no one will ever know how it could have gone down if there wasnt a gun involved. Sad shite all around for everybody involved. I hope we all can learn something from this tragedy.

The problem nowadays is they dont want to just whip your axx, they want to humilate you and video tape it on youtube.
Then they want to take your keys and car and go to your house and so on on on and on,and all this time with Your gun.
And as you well know ..one punch could be an out.
Just supposing .....but they usually hang in 2 and 3's ....T was out of his territory


.(I use they generally)...

 

[daytomann]

There's alot of woulds, coulds, shoulds ifs and etc on both sides. Bottom line, according to the law, Z was in his legal right to defend himself with deadly force.

Imho There are some people who carry that still don't quite "get it". You can't go on neighborhood watch in too many places toting your gun, then have to shoot someone and not expect some kind of "complications"

Personally, I would not have even volunteered for a watch because my carry license disqualifies me in my mind. I don't want the potential "complications". I'm not doing it unarmed yet theres a better than average chance that I might find myself having to defend myself with deadly force...no thanks! I'm out!

It's kind of like the thread awhile back about the guy who's wife was coaching little league soccer and one of the parents was an azz hole to her and the kid. The guy actually asked people if he should or should not carry his gun to the next game in case of confrontation with the azz hole!!! I mean WTF??? NO! no you should not!!
What are some people thinking?

As far as Z&M In the end bad decisions were made by both parties and one gets killed while beating the other up. Law says justified, end of story.
I very much appreciate stand your ground but If we want to avoid thus stuff, Just be smart and use common sense.

 

[n2sooners]

There's alot of woulds, coulds, shoulds ifs and etc on both sides. Bottom line, according to the law, Z was in his legal right to defend himself with deadly force.

Imho There are some people who carry that still don't quite "get it". You can't go on neighborhood watch in too many places toting your gun, then have to shoot someone and not expect some kind of "complications"

Personally, I would not have even volunteered for a watch because my carry license disqualifies me in my mind. I don't want the potential "complications". I'm not doing it unarmed yet theres a better than average chance that I might find myself having to defend myself with deadly force...no thanks! I'm out!

It's kind of like the thread awhile back about the guy who's wife was coaching little league soccer and one of the parents was an azz hole to her and the kid. The guy actually asked people if he should or should not carry his gun to the next game in case of confrontation!!! I mean WTF??? What are some people thinking?

As far as Z&M In the end bad decisions were made by both parties and one gets killed while beating the other up. Law says justified, end of story.
I very much appreciate stand your ground but If we want to avoid thus stuff, Just be smart and use common sense.

It was my understanding (and this could be wrong) that Zimmerman wasn't on watch at that time. He was just going somewhere when he spotted someone suspicious. And I agree with you. If we had a neighborhood watch and being unarmed was one of the rules, even though those rules aren't law I would decline being part of the watch. I can watch unofficially without having to give up my rights.