Could a Trayvon Martin case happen in NC?

While you don’t mention it in your story, the subject line implies NC Castle Doctrine is flawed, without any elaboration about why you think it’s flawed, except that it extends to the owner of a business, or passengers of a vehicle.

The only flaw is that it doesn’t extend to anyone other than the owner of a business. Is one to assume you feel that if someone is attempting to hijack your car, you should give it to them? What if your kids are in the back seat. Do you have no right to self defense?

Rob, the only flaw is in your misperception of NC’s law, which remedied a confusing and misunderstood existing law. Restaurant Carry will be the next to pass in the Legislature, notwithstanding the Rodney King style hate speech associated with the Florida case. All coming from your side of the aisle. Stay on your side, Rob, and leave the legislating to those who aren’t quite so narrow minded.

I wondered when you guys would decide to weigh in. You never disappoint, do you? In every other case you’d be screaming that due process should be afforded to the shooter, and he shouldn’t be arrested based upon the the screaming of an online lynch mob. But put the gun in the hands of a law abiding citizen with a concealed handgun permit and you’re ready to string him up along with our laws.

Maybe you should let the legal system do its job. If he’s guilty of something then they will figure it out and prosecute him. If he isn’t guilty of something, then they won’t. Isn’t that what we want in a legal system, the guilty convicted and punished and the innocent left alone? Or do you just want the guy chucked in a cage to appease your sense of outrage no matter what the evidence shows?

I was just wondering about North Carolina’s laws last night, when MSNBC showed a map in which a number of states were tinted as “stand your ground states.” Don’t I recall a case not long ago when a teenaged boy shot someone in his yard? There was some comment about the legality, but not much.

@nonanon, Did I mention a political party? You’re delusional if you think race isn’t a major factor on every level of NC society. I deal with racism every day on the jobsite, and as the father of two bi-racial children, both now grown, this has lead to several fist fights over the years and many heated arguements. That jackass in Florida stalked and killed a child. If that had been one of my kids, he wouldn’t be in hiding and I’d be in jail. I’ve hunted all my life and I’m a veteran. I grew up in a house with a lot of firearms and own firearms, but have never felt the need to point one at somebody. I was taught firearm safety from an early age and so were my kids, this Zimmerman character thought he was some kind of wild west vigilante. Look at the pictures of Trayvon Martin, he’s not in any way threatening, hoody or no hoody, and his killer’s actions are indifensible. If you want to make this political, one party and one party only, the GOP, uses fear and white insecurity to promote it’s political aims.

What does his being hispanic have to do with anything I said? I can only speak for myself,the shooter’s race has nothing to do with it. Why did Zimmerman confront this kid in the first place? Is he deathly afraid of scittles? Trayvon was only slightly darker than my own son, but if someone comes up to me and says my son was shot and killed by some neighborhood watch guy while he was walking down the street minding his own business, you don’t have to explain to me what happened. My son is a Life scout with 37 merit badges, a Brotherhood member of the Order of the Arrow, and an all-state wrestler. He’s not going to provoke anyone with a gun, and no matter what the guy’s story is, I know my son. The fact that Zimmerman isn’t behind bars is obscene. If he’d shot a white kid under the same circumstances, he would be, the Sanford police wouldn’t have hesitated. Sean, you need to do a little research on the Sanford PD covering the last two years. It’s a wonder the people of that town haven’t set the police station on fire. You have cover-ups, corruption, and intimidation that touches every level of the department.

Ah yes. We’d all be safe if only we could clobber each other. I’m sure the baby Jesus would be happy to know about that rule of thumb.

@Jack:

Fact: The shooter was not a neighborhood watch member, nor was he patrolling his neighborhood at the time. He was known to do that and make calls, but at that particular time he was on a personal errand.

Fact: Florida law considers self defense to be an exception to the general rule of “don’t kill anyone.” The requirements for self defense are pretty strict. The actor must be reasonably fear imminent death or serious bodily injury. Simply “feeling” that it is necessary is a ticket to prison for second degree murder. It is considered perfectly legal to shoot a person who is on top of you punching you into unconsciousness. That is what was claimed, and nothing found at the scene or during the three interviews of the shooter challenged that claim. Lacking probable cause to arrest the shooter, they were required both by Florida law and the Constitution to release him.

Fact: You have no idea what the status of the investigation of this incident was. You are merely reacting to the only groups of people who are publicizing this, the anti-gun crowd and the race baiters. Strangely, both seem to be left wing groups. When one camp is screaming to the heavens that something bad has happened and neither the police nor the shooter (nor his lawyer) are talking, you can be absolutely sure that you are only getting one side of the argument.

Fact: You have no idea if the altercation was started by the shooter or the dead young man. You must somehow assume that the shooter told the operator that the youth had disappeared, told the operator he’d meet the cop at his truck, hung up the phone and then chased down the youth. Given that it would be immediately apparent if the shooter was in the vicinity of his truck, it seems unlikely that the cops would miss this important detail when they were measuring the crime scene.

Fact: You don’t really know a single detail about this case at all. It seems to me that you are reacting simply to the fact that the dead young man is dark skinned and the shooter is a lighter shade, and that offends you. That, plus the shooter had the temerity to carry a gun for self defense, seems to make him some sort of pariah to the Left in America.

Self Defense cases rest on FACTS, not opinions. The screaming for the shooters head is nothing more than a modern, digital lynch mob.

http://www.americanlynching.com/photos-old.htm

Remember this stuff? I thought we left that behind. Now we insist that everyone get due process of law.

The fact that Zimmerman, armed with a 9mm, left his vehicle to confront this kid proves he instigated the entire situation. Zimmerman is not the victim here, he wanted to be a hero, instead of a 28 year old smuck living off his parents.

Frances, you’ve been scaring me for quite some time. Here’s the main problem with any of Sean’s arguments. All the evidence of self-defense come from the shooter, who definitely has a motivation to lie, and the circumstances surrounding the shooting calls his credibility into question. Even the guys lawyer says the “Stand your ground” law does not apply because he was not in his home, and pursued his victim.

Thanks Sean. (above)

Now we have even more info and (not) surprisingly it directly contradicts the “Official” anti-gun racially divisive narrative.

Now we know that it wasn’t the cops on the ground who made the call to release the shooter without charges, it was the prosecutor. They called the prosecutor and were told directly that they couldn’t even make a manslaughter charge stick in court.

Why couldn’t they? Because the story told by the shooter matched the physical evidence they found, plus they had an eyewitness who confirmed that the dead young man was on top of the shooter, punching him in the face. They were, and still are convinced that the screaming for help heard on the 911 call was the shooter. The father of the dead young man, when they played the audio for him the first time said the screaming was not his son. He only later changed his mind.

Go back and listen to the screaming again. Listen to how long it goes on before the shot. Now understand that the whole time he was screaming, he was on the ground getting pummeled. Are you now going to tell me that he was supposed to allow himself to be punched unconscious or dead instead of using his pistol to defend himself? No doubt some of you might actually think that. Fortunately for the rest of us, the law considers that a deadly force threat.

I have tried to refrain from labeling either of the two people involved in this as “Victim” or “Suspect,” because that is a value judgement that I am not in a position to make. We have no idea whether the shooter did anything wrong. We have no idea if the dead young man was totally in the right. What we do know is that the people closest to the investigation determined that there was no way they had enough evidence to even arrest the shooter. So why are we Monday morning quarterbacking their decision from hundreds of miles away?

I mean aside from political reasons, of course?

Therefore, no one can read information about a situation elsewhere and develop an opinion. After all the liberal press isn’t reliable.

Bottom line, from your point of view is, unless you have all the information say nothing and ask no questions. After all, shoot first and ask questions later is the rule of thumb and all others keep your mouth shut.

Once again,
FACT: Trayvon 17 and unarmed against an adult with a weapon.

FACT: Mr. Zimmerman followed Trayvon against the recommendation of the dispatcher. The dispatcher was saying – let the police handle the matter. The dispatcher said this for the safety of Mr. Zimmerman yet he ignored the dispatcher. Why?

So very sad. As an African American mother, it has been hard to sleep at night. That being said, I agree that we do not know everything yet so demanding a trial and conviction is premature at best. What is really bothersome here is that it APPEARS that Mr. Zimmerman pursued Trayvon and that Trayvon defended himself—which was his right as well. It was also Mr. Zimmerman’s right to then defend himself also. No matter where you stand, you have to admit that it is sad that a young person was killed! It really angered me to see someone on here describe Trayvon as a 180 pound football player pummeling Mr. Zimmerman. It just demonizes Trayvon and he cannot speak for himself…… May God be with us all!