George Zimmerman’s Gun: A Popular Choice for Concealed Carry

Wikimedia Commons
A Kel-Tec PF-9 9mm pistol, the same model used by
George Zimmerman in the shooting of Florida teen
Trayvon Martin.

Little is known about the short time between Trayvon Martin's initial confrontation with George Zimmerman and his death. But the weapon Zimmerman was carrying is typical for the type of self defense he has claimed.

By Madison Gray | @madisonjgray 

 March 28, 2012

As the controversy surrounding the shooting death of Trayvon Martin continues, relatively little has come out about the weapon in question. Even less is known about how it was used and at what point George Zimmerman decided to fire it.
According to a Orlando Sentinel report on Monday, police said a single shot was fired as Martin pounded on Zimmerman while the two were fighting, and the bullet hit Martin in the chest. According to a police report, Zimmerman said he had shot Martin and was still armed. An officer found his weapon, a black Kel-Tec PF-9 9mm semi-automatic pistol, in a holster placed on his waistband. As Zimmerman was taken for questioning, the gun was taken from him and placed in police evidence. Demonstrators have demanded that Zimmerman’s gun license be revoked, but state statutes prohibit revealing the status of his permit.

(TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS  link)

READ MORE

Also of great interest is this Mother Jones article:
The Trayvon Martin Killing, Explained

Complete timelines,  explanation of related cases and history of "stand your ground"
makes for some very interesting reading.

One thing is absolutely clear:  "Stand your ground" Laws need to be made illegal nationally!
They unfairly shift the burden of proof onto the dead who cannot defend themselves and they corrupt the processes of law already in place.

Trayvon Martin case 911 call: Screams not George Zimmerman's, 2 experts say

By msnbc.com staff

Updated at 2 p.m. ET: The voice heard crying for help on a 911 call just before Trayvon Martin was shot to death was not that of George Zimmerman, according to two forensic voice identification experts, one of whom told MSNBC on Sunday that he believes the evidence is strong enough to use in court.

"The tests concluded that it's not the voice of Mr. Zimmerman," Tom Owen, of Owen Forensic Services LLC and chair emeritus for the American Board of Recorded Evidence, told MSNBC.
Asked if he thought such tests would be admissible in court, Owen said "yes" and noted he had recently used similar testing in testimony at a Connecticut murder case that involved 911 call.   READ MORE

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Neighbors Spying on You? New Program Spreading Across the US Takes Neighborhood Watch to Scary New Level

Suspicious Activity Reporting asks citizens to keep an eye out on their neighbors -- but the results could be terrible.

March 31, 2012

Crime in Los Angeles is a gritty enterprise, and donning an LAPD badge has historically involved getting your hands dirty. Long before the New York Police Department was spying on Muslim students, the LAPD was running a large-scale domestic spy operation in the 1970s and ’80s, snooping on and infiltrating more than 200 political, labor and civic organizations including the office of then Mayor Tom Bradley. Today, the LAPD isn’t quite so aggressive, but it still employs a directive titled Special Order 1, which permits police officers to deem what is “suspicious” and then act on it.

SO 1 enables LAPD officers to file Suspicious Activity Reports on observed behaviors or activities. Where things get murky, however, is how SAR guidelines categorize constitutionally protected, non-criminal and commonplace activities such as using binoculars, snapping photographs and taking notes as indicators of terrorism-related activity. The SARs are coupled with the LAPD’s iWatch program, a campaign the police pioneered to encourage regular citizens to report “suspicious” activity, including “a person wearing clothes that are too big or too hot for the weather,” or things that just plain old don’t “look right.”

Far from being merely a local phenomenon, the standardized program that the LAPD developed in 2008 served as the lead model for a National Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative. “Success” stories from the LAPD’s program are used in national training material, and the LAPD touts it as “the first program in the U.S. to create a national standard” for terrorism-related procedures.

It's Not Just Trayvon: 9 Other Cases That Prove People of Color Can't Safely Walk the Streets of America

Lynchings and racist murders didn't end with the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Even in 2012, people of color can't walk in safety in many parts of the country.

March 29, 2012

The death of Trayvon Martin has lit up the media for much of the past month. While there's a certain degree of added tragedy due to Martin's age, people of all ages have good reason to fear vigilantism and police brutality in the United States. It's worth noting that despite nearly 200 attempts, a federal anti-lynching law was never passed in the United States. Further, Florida's controversial "stand your ground" law, and others like it, have led to what is essentially legalized murder in several areas of the country.

Lynchings and racist murders didn't end with the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Even in the 21st century, people of color can't walk in safety in many parts of the country. Here are several cases that illustrate this sad truth.

1. Bernard Goetz    READ MORE

Should People and Governments Shun the Totalitarian Catholic Church?

When a totalitarian regime aids and abets the rape of tens of thousands of children one would expect it to be shunned by governments and citizens alike.

January 5, 2012

When a totalitarian regime aids and abets the rape of tens of thousands of children one would expect it to be shunned by governments and citizens alike. And any statements it might issue on matters of morality accorded no respect.

Why should we make an exception when the regime is the Catholic Church?

That the Roman Catholic Church is totalitarian is undeniable. Church law itself makes this clear. Canon 331 declares the Pope “the head of the college of bishops, the Vicar of Christ, and the pastor of the universal Church on earth. By virtue of his office he possesses supreme, full, immediate, and universal ordinary power in the Church, which he is always able to exercise freely.”

Canon 333 emphasizes the remarkable power this institution endows in one man, “No appeal or recourse is permitted against a sentence or decree of the Roman Pontiff.”

And whenever the Pope chooses he can issue decrees related to faith and morals that not only have the power of law but must be considered irrefutable, at least since 1870 when the Church declared the Pope “possessed of that infallibility with which the Divine Redeemer wished His Church to be endowed.”

The entire hierarchy of the Catholic Church is at the mercy of the Pope. He appoints bishops and can impose his directives on the lowliest priests and nun.

I hasten to note that the Church was not always totalitarian.  READ MORE

24 States Enacted 92 Abortion Restrictions In 2011

Lawmakers across the nation pursued a record number of reproductive health and rights-related provisions in 2011. Here's a rundown of the worst.

January 8, 2012

Lawmakers across the nation pursued a record number of reproductive health and rights-related provisions in 2011, a new report from the Guttmacher Institute finds, enacting 135 measures in 36 states — “an increase from the 89 enacted in 2010 and the 77 enacted in 2009.” Sixty-eight percent of the provisions — 92 in 24 states — restricted access to abortion services:

Here is a sampling of 2011 in abortion law:  READ MORE

Craig Sonner, George Zimmerman's Lawyer, Reportedly Flees Lawrence O'Donnell Interview (VIDEO)

The Huffington Post
By Peter Finocchiaro
Posted: 03/27/2012 2:08 am 
Updated: 03/27/2012 11:25 am 

In a bizarre turn of events, MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell interviewed an empty chair on his program Monday night, after scheduled guest Craig Sonner reportedly fled from an MSNBC studio in Orlando just moments before the show began.

Sonner represents George Zimmerman, the former neighborhood watchman who shot and killed 17-year-old Florida resident Trayvon Martin in February. His appearance on O'Donnell's program would have been just the latest in a string of high-profile media interviews over the past several days, as he's attempted to shift the narrative surrounding the case. In previous conversations, Sonner has continually insisted that the shooting was motivated not by race, but was instead a matter of self-defense -- though the attorney has declined to answer several questions about the specifics of his client's defense.
   READ MORE

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===================MY OPINION==================>


Several very big problems here.  Lawyer says "grass stains on Zimmerman's shirt",  but Z is wearing a jacket at the time.  

Now I just learn that Zimmerman was wearing his gun fully visible in a holster at his waist.  

Okay,  show of hands,  how many of you would attack an armed stranger?  

Isn't it more likely that you'd attempt to disarm him IF you attacked at all?  
Wouldn't that attempt result in a wrestling match for control of the gun?   So where is the testimony about Martin trying to disarm Zimmerman?  He just walks up,  punches a 340 lb armed stranger,  breaking his nose,  then,  without the slightest concern for the firearm,  he starts smashing the 340lb armed strangers head on the concrete.  YEAH!  RIGHT!  

You couldn't sell that script to N.C.I.S. or C.S.I.!

The open display of a firearm has the expected effect of intimidating people.  It's most effective when the person being confronted,  has no martial arts training at all,  and even then it bodes caution.  Was Trayvon a Navy Seal?  How did we miss that?   Watch the video and learn that bit about the holstered gun!
I'm sure we'll find even more unexpected errata spread over a wide range of missives as this case goes on.