I was involved in a long thread on Facebook in which a longtime acquaintance of mine who has spent a career in law enforcement was avidly defending George Zimmerman, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why.
Ultimately, I came up with two reasons: 1. He's a racist. Or 2. He's such a crazy gun advocate that he automatically gives the benefit of the doubt to someone carrying a gun -- Zimmerman was given credibility simply because he was carrying a gun.
It's kind of crazy to come to that -- but the way Florida law is written, my acquaintance just didn't see that Zimmerman had committed a crime, and therefore the ire against him was somehow misplaced and Zimmerman was being stigmatized and victimized.
So I asked myself: why don't I give Zimmerman the benefit of the doubt? I've done a bunch of thinking about this, and here's where I come up: I trust Trayvon more than I trust Zimmerman. Why? Because he was a kid on the phone holding some Skittles.
And Zimmerman was an armed adult who has been charged for violence against a police officer and domestic abuse, disobeying the police and looking for an interaction he never should have had.
And while that jury may very well have chosen the correct verdict given Florida law, I think the law here is wrong.
So I did a bunch of thinking about what is wrong with the laws and how they should be changed.
Follow me below to see the laws that should be enacted to prevent situations like this from ever happening again.
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