The Zimmerman verdict moved something in me.

[redgreenandblue]

I used to self-identify as a moderate when it comes to gun control. I don't own guns, but my dad does. I never wished to buy a gun for myself, but I spent time with my dad shooting pistols, rifles, shot-guns and whatnot. I used to think that some increase in gun control might good, like background checks, but not too much. My main concern was that my dad would have to give up his family heirloms (how ever likely that ever was...). I guess I felt sympathetic to his point of view and to that of his buddies.

On the other hand, I always thought Zimmerman was guilty as hell of murder and should be in jail. I actually thought he would be convicted (I posted a thread about that). I was wrong.

The other day, before the verdict, I was talking to my dad and he said something to the effect of "well, before that guy with the gun was attacked everybody was following the law". I put it off as his normal degree of non-informedness on issues of relevance...

After I had some time to digest the verdict, I realized that something had clicked. I realize now that I no longer give a shit whether my dad gets to have his guns, and I certainly would like to see them taken away from assholes like Zimmerman or every ammo-stockpiling militia assholes out there who ever whined about his precious guns in public.

That's all. I'm sorry I won't be able to respond to any posts until tomorrow.

[yardwork]

1. I hope that a lot of other people react the same way.

I posted earlier this week that if Zimmerman was acquitted, I thought that a lot of people who have been neutral on gun control would take another look.

I think that the long-term impact of this verdict will be to encourage many people to rethink gun control. The people celebrating today may look back on this verdict as a turning point.

[lame54]

2. Me too...

My dinner

[napoleon_in_rags]

3. That will probably be a common reaction.

I hate these TV trials. Arias, Casey Anthony, etc. What often happens is public expresses outrage, prosecution overcharges to ride outrage wave, but fails to get conviction because they overcharged. You wonder if jury is feeling pressure, and wanting to push back against it. You wonder what would have happened if they toned it down a bit and were aloud to proceed with the trial without all the noise.

But this case has some undeniable fundamentals. Trayvon would be alive if Zimmerman didn't have the gun (or obeyed the operator) And I'm convinced Zimmerman would be too, regardless of what happened. What you see here is a gun being used to escalate a confrontation that would have been better handled by just waiting for police.

[HardTimes99]

4. Bravo! I find my pro-gun control position hardening now and I'm moving closer towards my

wife's hard-line position on the issue that all private ownership of firearms should be illegal.

If that's what it takes to prevent the murder of another Trayvon Martin, then I say time to confiscate everyone's guns.