General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: George Zimmerman Explodes the NRA Fantasy of the Armed Citizen [View all]spin
(17,493 posts)Some pistols are made for target shooting that are not as lethal as common firearms. Air pistols are used in olympic competition and actually are more accurate than firearms. I do own two very accurate air pistols and practice target shooting with them.
I was not raised in a home that taught racism. My father worked as an insurance inspector in a predominately black neighborhood in Pittsburgh and had a number of back acquaintances and friends. He often told me that skin color made it much harder for blacks to gain the equality that other ethnic groups like the Irish and the Italians had achieved over the years. Still he felt that our nation was a "great melting pot" and that in 100 years intermarriage would dissolve the racial barrier between blacks and whites and our nation would benefit from it. He died in 1963, fifty years ago. I think it is quite possible that his prediction will prove true.
Firearms are extremely effective self defense weapons in those rare situations where a person is under a serious attack that might result in serious injury or death. That's one reason the police are armed. I will agree that firearms are extremely dangerous items to have in your house and I have personally seen both the good and the bad that firearms can cause. When people ask me about owning a firearm for self defense, I often do my best to discourage them. Firearms are not for everybody.
If I would have been in Zimmerman's shoes that night, I probably would not have been all that worried about a young person wearing a hoodie walking through my neighborhood. There's nothing unusual about that, especially in the rain. At the most, I would have called the police and when told not to follow would have driven on.