Ben Jealous' full remarks on the Trayvon Martin killing and "stand your ground"

[ProSense]

NAACP’s Ben Jealous: Justice for Trayvon Martin Begins with Killer’s Arrest, Police Chief’s Ouster
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/3/22/naacps_ben_jealous_justice_for_trayvon

At about 48 mins.

<...>

BENJAMIN JEALOUS: It’s not clear that this law really has a role in this place—I mean, you know, in this case. I mean, again, when you read the law, the law suggests that Trayvon Martin had a right to defend himself. There’s nothing about this law that any reasonable mind could possibly construe as empowering George Zimmerman to hunt and kill a boy as he did.

With that said, this law seems to have had disturbing effects throughout the state. It has opened the door for sort of creatively rogue departments like the one in Sanford to grossly misinterpret it. It has also, according to folks involved in the law enforcement system here, lawyers on both sides of the law, if you will—defense attorneys, prosecutors—created a situation where you can have two drug dealers involved in a shootout, and neither one of them convicted, even though, you know, somebody, some bystander, may get shot in the process, because both of them can claim that they feared for their life, they feared that a felony was about to be committed against them, and so therefore they each stood their ground, and that’s how the shootout started. So it really seems to create an opening for sort of a Wild Wild West approach. And our country is beyond that. And we learned a long time ago, when this country was a lot more sparsely populated, that it led to recklessness and senseless deaths. And that seems to be the growing impression here.

But I also want to be very clear that that law is not the problem in this case. It is the gross misinterpretation of that law by the Sanford department, including its chief, that is the real problem in this case.

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/3/22/naacps_ben_jealous_justice_for_trayvon

[Number23]

1. K&R

There’s nothing about this law that any reasonable mind could possibly construe as empowering George Zimmerman to hunt and kill a boy as he did.

But I also want to be very clear that that law is not the problem in this case. It is the gross misinterpretation of that law by the Sanford department, including its chief, that is the real problem in this case.

[ProSense]

2. Yup, and here's

what else jumps out:

"disturbing effects throughout the state"

"creatively rogue departments"

"create an opening for sort of a Wild Wild West approach"

Summary: awful law, horrific precedent, tragic consequences.

[CakeGrrl]

3. He got it all.

Calling out those responsible for twisting the law to suit their needs, and the dangers of creating law that invites people to do so with deadly consequences.

[Skittles]

4. literally it is a license to kill

and all it takes is a perceived threat, facts be damned

[PavePusher]

5. Not true, as you well know. n/t

[Skittles]

8. bullshit - it is a paranoid gun nut's wet dream

AS YOU WELL KNOW

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/opinion/krugman-lobbyists-guns-and-money.html

[arthritisR_US]

6. k&r.

[goclark]

7. K and R