“These a**holes... They always get away.”

On February 26th, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was an invited guest staying with his stepmother in a gated community in Sanford, Florida. During halftime of the NBA all-star game that evening, Martin walked to a local convenience store to get some snacks. Little did he know he was being followed by George Zimmerman, 28, the self-appointed “captain” of the neighborhood watch program. Zimmerman, who is white, had been tailing the young African-American in his car because he felt Martin was “a suspicious person.” At some point, Zimmerman called 911. He told a dispatcher, "This guy looks like he is up to no good. He is on drugs or something," and said that he was going to detain Martin because “These a**holes... They always get away.” The dispatcher told Zimmerman that a unit was being dispatched to the scene and asked Zimmerman to refrain from approaching Martin.

Zimmerman ignored this direction. He got out of his car and pursued Martin between two rows of townhouses. A fistfight broke out. When police arrived on the scene minutes later, they found Martin dying face down in the grass. In his hands were a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea. He had been shot in the chest by Zimmerman, a concealed handgun permit holder who was armed that night, with a 9mm pistol.

If Zimmerman saw anything “suspicious” that night beyond an African-American walking through a gated community in a hooded sweatshirt, he never said. He was detained by the police, but after he claimed he acted in self-defense in killing the unarmed Martin (who he outweighed by 20 pounds), Zimmerman was released without charge. Martin’s family and their attorney were told by Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee that Zimmerman avoided arrest because he had a “squeaky clean” criminal record.

That statement was fraudulent. It has since been revealed that Zimmerman was arrested in 2005 for resisting arrest with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer. The case was dismissed after Zimmerman attended a pre-trial diversion program and a deal was made with his attorney to get the case dropped. In addition, police have fielded complaints from members of Zimmerman’s gated community about his aggressive conduct in the neighborhood. According to Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump, “[The Sanford Police Department] just lied to the family. They just couldn’t see why [Zimmerman] would do anything wrong or be violent. But not only do you know the guy killed this kid, because he admitted to it, you knew that he has a propensity for violence because of his past record.”

Martin, on the other hand, was squeaky clean. An avid sports fan and horseback rider, he dreamed of attending college and becoming an aviation mechanic. His family still recalls the boy’s heroics at age nine, when he dragged his father from a burning kitchen. After the shooting, his father described his son as “a dear friend.”

The reluctance of the Sanford Police Department to arrest Zimmerman probably has something to do with Florida’s outrageous “Stand Your Ground” law. The law removes the duty of individuals to retreat from a confrontation and allows them to use deadly force if they reasonably believe that it is necessary to prevent death or “great bodily harm.” “Stand Your Ground” legislation was enacted in 2005 after being championed in the Florida state legislature by National Rifle Association lobbyist Marion Hammer. In support of the law, Hammer said, “Through time, in this country, what I like to call bleeding heart criminal coddlers want you to give a criminal an even break, so that when you're attacked, you're supposed to turn around and run, rather than standing your ground and protecting yourself and your family and your property.” But critics in Florida’s legal community dubbed it the “Shoot First” law and said that it “encourages people to stand their ground ... when they could just as easily walk away.” It has also been pointed out that the law “give[s] citizens more rights to use deadly force than we give police officers, and with less review.” A report by the South Florida Sun Sentinel vindicated these complaints, concluding, “several...accused murderers have successfully used [Florida’s] 2005 ‘Stand Your Ground’ law to prove they were the real victims.”

Three things are obvious to everyone: 1) Trayvon Martin was not a criminal; 2) George Zimmerman was not protecting either his property or family on the evening of February 26th, and; 3) Not only could Zimmerman have walked away that night; he actively sought out this conflict when told not to do so by law enforcement. No civilian gun-toter has a right to stand above the rule of law and serve as another human being’s judge, jury and executioner.

As of today, George Zimmerman remains a free man, with carte blanche to carry a loaded gun in public. Meanwhile, Trayvon’s family continues to mourn. "That was my baby, my youngest son," his mother Sybrina Fulton told ABC News. "He meant a lot to me, I don't think the police department really understands that ... I need justice for my family, I just want justice for my son."

If you’d like to help the Martin family, please do so by signing this online petition that calls on Florida’s 18th District State's Attorney to prosecute George Zimmerman for this murder.

[Audio clips of 911 calls made on the night of the murder can be heard here.]

“How do you shoot someone eight times in self-defense?”

On February 10, National Rifle Association (NRA) CEO Wayne LaPierre spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C. and declared, “Throughout history, one simple truth rings as loud and clear as a bell—the presence of a gun in the hand of a good person makes us all safer.” But a recent tragedy from Florida suggest that perhaps an earlier LaPierre quote—“The guys with the guns make the rules”—more accurately reflects the reality of contemporary America, in a “might makes right” kind of way.

On November 24, 2010, Thomas Baker, a 28-year-old resident of Town ‘n’ Country, Florida, decided to go for a jog. It wasn’t your typical run, however. Baker headed out at approximately 1:00 AM with $950 in cash and a .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun.

18-year-old Carlos Mustelier and his 16-year-old friend saw Baker as they headed to a Beverage King in the neighborhood. Mustelier told his friend he was going to rob Baker. After leaving the store, which was closed, they saw Baker passing them again. “I'm going to bam him. I'm gonna knock him out,” Mustelier announced.

The two teens, clad in dark-hooded sweatshirts, confronted Baker. Mustelier closed in and punched Baker in the face, cutting his lip. "You wanna play games? You wanna play games?" Baker said to Mustelier. He immediately pulled out his handgun, centered his laser sight on Mustelier’s chest, and fired eight hollow-point bullets at point-blank range at the unarmed teen. Four bullets hit Mustelier: one in the chest, one in the buttocks, and two in the back. He was dead by the time paramedics arrived (Mustelier’s friend John Martinez rushed to the scene but was unable to revive him). Mustelier’s 16-year-old friend ran for his life, returning later when police arrived. Authorities searched both teens and found no weapons of any kind. Both had clean criminal records.

Detectives interviewed Baker and asked him, "When you go running at night in the neighborhood, do you normally arm yourself with a firearm?" "I always have it on me, unless I'm going to the courthouse,” Baker replied. As for the $950, Baker told detectives he was unemployed and made money fixing friends’ cars. He had just done some work for a friend and that’s why he had that amount of money in his pocket, he claimed. Finally, Baker said he shot Mustelier in self-defense because he thought the teen had a gun on him.

The story worked. Florida prosecutors determined that no charges will be filed against Baker.

The reason for that is Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” (aka “Shoot First”) law, which was drafted by the NRA and enacted in 2005. The law eliminates the common law duty to use every reasonable means available to retreat prior to using deadly force, which the Florida Supreme Court had legitimized by explaining, “Human life is precious, and deadly combat should be avoided if at all possible when imminent danger to oneself can be avoided.” The “Stand Your Ground” law states that any individual who is in a place where he/she has a legal right to be, and who is “not engaged in an unlawful activity...has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force, if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.” Individuals using lethal force in this manner are immune from criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits.

The law has been invoked in at least 93 cases in Florida involving 65 deaths, a recent St. Petersburg Times review found. "Whether it's trick-or-treaters or kids playing in the yard of someone who doesn't want them there or some drunk guy stumbling into the wrong house, you're encouraging people to possibly use deadly physical force where it shouldn't be used,” says Miami Police Chief John Timoney. The numbers bear that out—“Justifiable homicides” in Florida have increased from 43 the year the law was enacted to 105 in 2009.

The NRA couldn’t be happier with the results, calling its law “common-sense.” To the NRA, Thomas Baker was another “Armed Citizen” to be celebrated, and that is exactly what the lobby did, proudly announcing on the NRA News Twitter feed: “Florida: Jogger won't be charged in fatal Town 'N Country shooting.”

The family and friends who loved Carlos Mustelier feel differently. Vasilisa Akishina, a classmate and friend of Mustelier, laid flowers at the intersection where he was killed and reminisced about how, "he always made everybody smile." “He was just so generous with everything,” she recalled. Some speculated that there might have been an ulterior motive in the shooting, and referred to an earlier altercation Mustelier had with Baker's younger brother. But perhaps Dianela Gonzaez, Mustelier’s sister, summed up the absurdity of the incident best: "I know that he thought my brother had a gun. But I mean, it was eight shots fired. How do you shoot someone eight times in self-defense? That makes no sense."

No one should paint Carlos Mustelier as a hero in this incident—he was wrong to confront and attack Baker that night. On the flip side, Baker is no hero either. It’s hard to pinpoint the definition of “Looking for Trouble,” but leaving one’s house after midnight with $950 in cash and a loaded handgun must be close. And to fire repeatedly on an unarmed teenager—including three times in the back after he had turned to flee—is murder plain and simple, no matter what the NRA-drafted law in Florida now calls it.

What should have been a fistfight became a tragedy. A young man with his entire life ahead of him has been taken from his loved ones prematurely and unnecessarily. To the NRA, this is “good law” and “good order.” To those of us with a conscience who believe in the notion of a civilized society, it is anathema, and we must stand against it.

Back Nine

On June 22, an argument at a golf course in Austin, Texas, nearly turned into a tragedy. That day, Matthew Nader (a former stand-out football player for Westlake High School) and two friends were playing golf at the Lions Municipal Golf Course when 73-year-old Edwin Dailey approached the group and complained about their slow play and the way they had parked their golf cart. The argument continued for four more holes. At the 13^th hole, Dailey told Nader that he was prepared to “make them both equal” by getting his gun.

After the 18^th hole, all four of the golfers ended up in the course’s parking lot together. There was another verbal exchange, and Dailey pulled out a .25-caliber Browning handgun loaded with hollow-point bullets and pointed it at Nader. Nader and his friends took cover behind their cars, and Dailey concealed the weapon and walked back to the clubhouse.

The three men were on the phone calling 911 when Dailey returned to the parking lot. “If I feel threatened, I am morally obligated to destroy you,” he told the former football star and his friends. [It is unclear if Dailey was alluding to Texas’ controversial “Shoot First Law,” which removes an individual’s duty to retreat from a potential confrontation and presumes that he/she is reasonable in using lethal force if someone enters or is attempting to enter their occupied home, car or workplace.]

Dailey then left the scene, but was pulled over soon after by an Austin city marshal and taken into custody. Police seized the Browning handgun and also found a .38-caliber Beretta pistol with two magazines in a cooler in Dailey’s car.

In an affidavit, officers stated that they didn’t believe that Dailey had been in physical danger or that his threat of deadly force was justified. Dailey has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony, and was released from prison on $15,000 bail.

Law enforcement officials have reported that Dailey holds a concealed carry permit in the state of Texas. It is unclear at this time whether he has a criminal record or any past history of mental instability. Texas residents can obtain concealed carry permits by showing proof of residency in the State of Texas, filling out an online application, and taking a single 10-hour gun safety class.

A “shall-issue” state, Texas forces law enforcement to issue a permit to anyone who completes these requirements and passes a computerized background check. The federal database searched during these checks, however, is missing millions of records that would potentially disqualify an applicant.

Hopefully, law enforcement authorities in Texas will take prompt action to revoke Edwin Dailey’s concealed carry permit. Any individual who feels a “moral obligation” to shoot and kill someone for their pace of play on a golf course is clearly a threat to public safety and not fit to carry a handgun in public—or anywhere else.

Road Rage

On August 5 in Pembroke Pines, Florida, a quiet morning erupted in tragedy when Special Agent Donald Pettit was shot and killed in the parking lot of a post office by James Patrick Wonder. Pettit, who was employed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, was traveling along a Florida highway with his 12-year-old daughter when an incident of road rage led to a needless death.

For miles, Pettit and Wonder participated in an aggressive game of “chicken,” cutting off each other’s cars, slamming on brakes, and cursing heavily. When Wonder pulled over into the parking lot of a local post office, Pettit followed him.

The two men exited their cars and an argument ensued. Wonder, a concealed carry permit holder in the state of Florida, then drew his handgun and shot Pettit, who was unarmed, in the back of the head. While Pettit’s daughter looked on in horror, Wonder went back to his vehicle and fled the scene, leaving the federal agent to die.

Wonder attempted to elude police by dying his hair and driving in a rental car, but after a massive 24-hour manhunt, he was apprehended by authorities at a dialysis clinic thanks to an anonymous tip. “We told you we would get you,” said Pembroke Pines Deputy Chief Mike Segarra to a cheering crowd of law enforcement officers at a press conference later that evening. Police recovered several handguns from Wonder’s home, including the weapon they believe was used to shoot Pettit.

While Wonder was initially charged with premeditated murder and held without bond, on August 28, a Broward County grand jury indicted him on a lesser charge, manslaughter. Wonder then posted $10,000 bond and was released from jail. He now faces a maximum of 15 years imprisonment. Had he been charged with premeditated murder, Wonder could have received life in prison or the death penalty.

Frank Maister, an attorney for Wonder, expressed disappointment that the grand jury chose to indict his client. He also indicated he will argue his client acted in self-defense. He might have a strong case due to a Florida law that lowered the standard for using deadly force in public places. Previously, Florida law required citizens to retreat from a situation in which they felt threatened if they could do so safely. Florida’s 2005 “Shoot First” statute, however, changed the law so that, “A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any…place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force, if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.”

Clearly, both Wonder and Pettit were at fault that day for allowing their road rage to escalate into dangerous behavior, and Pettit was wrong for following Wonder into a parking lot and confronting him. Beyond that, however, we are left with several important questions… Why didn’t Wonder call the police or drive to a police station if he was being followed by Pettit? If he was being actively attacked by Pettit, then why was Wonder uninjured, and why was the fatal bullet wound in the back of Pettit’s head? Most importantly, why would a man who acted legitimately in self-defense flee a crime scene (leaving a child to deal with her dead father) and attempt to evade police capture by ditching his car and disguising his appearance?

No matter what answers we eventually find, the sad fact is that no one had to die that day. The presence of a handgun during a moment of passion turned what should have been a shouting match or at worst a scuffle into a fatality that has left a family “destroyed.”

"Reasonable Belief"

On July 9, a confrontation between an Indiana resident and a homeless man led to tragic violence in Salt Lake City, Utah. That day, Michael James Mays—who had a history of substance abuse problems—was seen pacing across the street from Mama’s Southern Plantation restaurant while talking on a cell phone. He then turned towards restaurant patron George Harrison, who was sitting outside Mama’s with a group of people, and approached him while shouting expletives. Harrison—who said that Mays lifted his shirt up and reached for his waistband—pulled out a concealed handgun and fired once at Mays, killing him. Police later determined that Mays had been unarmed.

Harrison is a concealed carry permit holder in the state of Indiana. Individuals who hold a valid concealed carry permit in any other state may freely carry concealed handguns while in Utah due to a reciprocity law.

The District Attorney’s office has exonerated Harrison and spokesperson Alicia Cook has stated, “We believe this incident falls within the parameters of self-defense and that the shooting was justified.” Oddly, Cook was also quoted in the same statement as saying, “You cannot use lethal force to respond to a fistfight.” Utah law allows the use of lethal force for self-defense when an individual “reasonably believes” that it is necessary “to prevent death or serious bodily injury.” Additionally, the law contains “Shoot First” language that removes an individual’s duty to retreat from a situation if possible before using deadly force.

What makes Cook’s statement puzzling is that Harrison fired his gun without the situation even escalating to the level of a fistfight. Yet the District Attorney’s office has found that Harrison was justified in his actions because he believed that Mays had a gun, without making any visual confirmation of the fact.

Mays’ son told the media, “If they do have a weapon, they should like pull out the gun and point it at them and say ‘freeze,' like cops would do. The guy who shot him is very immature...he needs to be ashamed of himself.” Numerous other relatives and friends said that they never knew Mays to be a violent person.

Responding to the District Attorney’s decision to not press charges, Mays’ first wife, Holly Mays, said, “I totally think it was unjustifiable … at least they could have written [Harrison] a ticket, something. I think now people think you can basically open fire in a residential area and say, 'I did it in self-defense.'” Family members are considering a civil lawsuit.

While it was wrong of Mays to confront Harrison, the situation should not have resulted in a fatal shooting. Without the introduction of a firearm into the confrontation by Harrison, the outcome could have ranged from a verbal confrontation to a fistfight. Even given the presence of a handgun, Harrison could have simply brandished his weapon until police arrived, or attempted to move away from Mays. In the end, he chose none of these options, shooting Mays without even giving a verbal warning. The result was an unnecessary death—or, as Steve Gunn from the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah put it, a "sadness, for both the victim and the shooter, because the shooter is going to have to bear that burden for the rest of his life.”

10 Items or Fewer…Strictly Enforced

“Shop till you drop” almost took on new meaning after a tense confrontation at a Winn-Dixie grocery store in Miramar, Florida, last Thanksgiving Eve. Frustrated at having to wait in a long checkout line, Miramar City Commissioner Fitzroy Salesman drew a concealed handgun and pushed it into the side of 18-year-old Lazavius Hudson, who Salesman claimed had too many items in his cart.

A video captured by surveillance cameras at the store shows Salesman, a concealed carry permit holder in the state, brandishing his .45 caliber handgun after a brief verbal confrontation with Hudson. After pulling his gun, Salesman is reported to have taunted the other customers in the store, saying, “they can call the police.” He apparently was confident that he would not go to jail for the offense and told police that he pulled the gun because he felt threatened.

Salesman has since been charged with aggravated assault with a firearm and removed from the city council by Florida Governor Charlie Crist. Although Salesman by all objective standards was not under any real threat at the Winn-Dixie, his claim to police that he “felt threatened” may allow him to cite a new Florida law in his defense at his upcoming trial.

Florida’s “Shoot First” statute, which became law in 2005, eliminates the duty to retreat from a threat and allows residents to use deadly force anywhere they are legally permitted to be to stop the commission of a “forcible felony.” Any felony that involves the threat or use of physical violence against an individual is included under the auspices of the law. Individuals need not meet some reasonable standard of fear of such a threat to their safety, but rather must only subjectively affirm that they felt threatened. The burden of proof in these cases falls upon the prosecution, who must prove a defendant’s state of mind wasn’t one in which he/she felt threatened.

Fortunately, Hudson was not physically harmed and will be able to testify in the case and go on with his life. We regret to say that Florida’s Shoot First law has already led to several shootings that resulted in the deaths of unarmed civilians. We believe that every citizen, innocent or guilty, has the right to a fair trial by jury where there is an objective standard as to what constitutes “reasonable force.” By enacting a Shoot First law, the Sunshine State has chosen the path of vigilantism over that of reason and allowed momentary bouts of hubris to determine the course of lives. For this reason, future Fitzroy Salesmans will undoubtedly feel emboldened.