General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: George Zimmerman F***ed up [View all]moriah
(8,311 posts)I don't have my permit, though I've considered getting it... tho there's little point in having one unless you actively plan to carry, and while I'd like the option, I don't feel the need strongly enough to go through the process. A job I'd consider getting it for would be like the one my mom had, she worked at a suicide hotline on night weekends in the middle of the downtown of a city, and her car was stolen from her parking lot on her shift there.
Honestly, those who are looking at self-defense statutes should look at how it would have been had the people having the guns been reversed -- obviously, the person being followed wasn't a minor in this thought experiment:
If someone was following me without identifying themselves verbally as security or police through a parking lot at night when I was walking in a place I had every right to be, I'd likely wish I was carrying even if I wasn't. If I were caught by a person who was following me, I would consider that assault in the legal sense, since they were detaining me and threatening me with their behavior, enough to consider it to be force used against me that could be met with force under the law. If an altercation had gotten to the point I felt my physical well-being was in true jeopardy (and for me, therefore my life could be in danger -- I wouldn't do well in a physical fight), I would have felt justified to draw my firearm if I had it. Drawing a firearm in a fight earlier than that can be considered aggravated assault itself. If I was cornered or the person was very close to me, and they kept coming toward me, I probably would be scared enough for my life to shoot.
That's standing your ground *after retreating*, which would have been lawful even before the law changed. The victim in this case had a valid self-defense claim in my opinion, if it were being analyzed from that side. (Edit to add: which is one way it should be analyzed under the law in determining whether Zimmerman had a self-defense claim at all, if his victim could use one himself!)
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Given that you have used gender slurs against the man, even if they might be deserved... how *do* you feel about women who carry?