Divemedic

Here is a limited review of the law concerning the use of force. I am not a lawyer, and this is my opinion. In light of the possible riots that will follow a “not guilty” verdict in the Zimmerman trial, I think it prudent to review the self defense laws that may apply. The first thing to remember is that when a riot starts, the governor, sheriff, or other local official will likely declare a state of emergency. This means that he governor or other official may suspend or limit the sale, dispensing, or transportation of alcoholic beverages, firearms, explosives, and combustibles. (state statute 870.044)(This means that you may not be able to get ammo or fuel during any unrest, and also means that your concealed weapons permit may not be valid during the emergency. Make sure you gas up your vehicles, and stay home during the emergency. Note what the law says:

870.044 Whenever the public official declares that a state of emergency exists, the following acts shall be prohibited during the period of said emergency throughout the jurisdiction:

(1) The sale of, or offer to sell, with or without consideration, any ammunition or gun or other firearm of any size or description.

(2) The intentional display, after the emergency is declared, by or in any store or shop of any ammunition or gun or other firearm of any size or description.

(3) The intentional possession in a public place of a firearm by any person, except a duly authorized law enforcement official or person in military service acting in the official performance of her or his duty.

When it comes to the use of force, Florida law says:

776.012: A person is justified in using force, except deadly force, against another when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or herself or another against the other’s imminent use of unlawful force. However, a person is justified in the use of deadly force and does not have a duty to retreat if:

He or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony; or

treason; murder; manslaughter; sexual battery; carjacking; home-invasion robbery; robbery; burglary; arson; kidnapping; aggravated assault; aggravated battery; aggravated stalking; aircraft piracy; unlawful throwing, placing, or discharging of a destructive device or bomb; and any other felony which involves the use or threat of physical force or violence against any individual.

One thing that I learned from years of working as an emergency responder is that we do not plan to fail, we fail to plan. For that reason, I always try to have a plan for various likely scenarios. Because of the likelihood of violence that would be brought about by a not guilty verdict in the Zimmerman case, I have reviewed and modified my family disaster plan.
My sister lives in a neighborhood that has a high probability for being involved in any violence that will develop, so I told her that she is welcome to stay here at my home with her boyfriend and her two daughters (my nieces). I was reviewing my preparations, and made sure that I had enough supplies for the seven people that will likely be staying here.
If I need to shelter in place and cannot leave, I have enough food for seven people to last about two weeks. I do not, however, have enough water storage for that many people. Need to think about that.
Communications are adequate.
Security is adequate.
Shelter is fine.
If we need to evacuate, there may be a problem with evacuating, because the majority of routes out may be problematic.
While I was doing this, my girlfriend said that it seemed like I was preparing for the end of the world. I told her that if you are prepared for a worst case scenario, then anything less than that is a cakewalk. Then I showed her reports from the King riots of 1992.
We will most likely gather at my home when the case is given to the jury, and will hunker down until a day or two after the verdict, to ensure that there will be no violence.

Breitbart says that only 47% of Americans have a full time job. According to the Department of Labor, there are 116 million Americans working full time. The actual picture is much bleaker than that. There are about 4.5 million Federal employees. There are also 19 million local and state full time government employees. Subtracting those from the employment, and we see that there are only 93 million Americans working full time in the private sector. That’s right- only about 1/3 of America is working to support the other 2/3.

This is being caused by the high cost of government mandated benefits for full time employees, in my opinion. A full time employee gets FMLA leave, free health insurance, and many other costly perks that part time employees do not. These benefits have pushed the cost of hiring full time employees past a critical tipping point, where the cost of hiring, training, and managing multiple part time employees is less than the cost of paying expensive perks and benefits. It is now cheaper to hire 2 people at 24 hours a week than it is to hire one person at 40 hours per week.

This will only accelerate the fall that I have been talking about for years. Hang on, this crash is going to hurt.

I have been sitting here watching the Zimmerman trial for the past two weeks or so. There are some interesting things that I have noticed. The State Attorney has used the following facts against him:

1 After witnessing a crime, he formed a neighborhood watch in conjunction with police and neighbors
2 He called police several times when he saw suspicious people (Remember, if you see something, say something) One of those calls actually resulted in the arrest and conviction of a burglar. 5 of the 12 times he called was on a black person, thus proving he is a racist, despite the fact that he has a black grandparent.
3 He was carrying a gun while going to the store. Who does that?
4 The gun he was carrying had a round in the chamber, and was thus set up to fire without cocking.
5 The person he called in as suspiciously walking between houses and peeking in windows was bleack
6 He kept the suspicious person that he spotted and was calling 911 on in sight, while giving the dispatcher updates as to the person’s location.

All of the above facts, according to the state, made Zimmerman a racist wannabe cop.

7 When the dispatcher asked where the person went, he got out of his truck to see.
8 When the dispatcher realized what he was doing, he informed Zimmerman that he didn’t need to follow the guy, so Zimmerman said “OK” and was on the way back to his truck when he was confronted and attacked.
9 While being attacked, the only eyewitness reports that Martin was on top, and Zimmerman was screaming for help.
10 Multiple witnesses have testified that Zimmerman could have died or been seriously injured, if the beating continued.
(Each of the above 10 statements have been presented in court. There is more than enough here to establish reasonable doubt that Zimmerman was exercising his right to self defense.)

What do I take from this? If I see a person kick in a neighbor’s door and come out with a bloody butcher knife, I am not calling or doing a thing. Also, stay as far away from all minorities as possible. Mind your own business, and never call 911 on a person that is not of your race. or you will also be called a wannabe racist cop.

A man in Alaska that was deep sea fishing in 900 feet of water catches a 200 year old fish.

My brother let his 12 year old son hang out with some of my brother’s friends from his high school days. Those friends thought that it would be funny to take this 12 year old into a very bad neighborhood and take a picture of my nephew standing under a street sign in the center of this area. My brother thought the picture was funny, and posted it to Facebook. His friends all had a great time joking about it.

This neighborhood has had 11 unsolved shootings in the last week. The last one was a 17 year old kid who was shot while waiting for a bus. I told my brother that this is not wise, but he doesn’t see the harm in it, and told me that I am being racist. He responded by saying that “I didn’t see any shootings on the news, the neighborhood can;t be any worse than it was when I was in high school, they had to get a haircut and there is a barber shop there, and besides, it was the middle of the day.”

I will let you judge for yourself. As for me, I carry a gun and I won’t set foot in that neighborhood. The cops don’t even go in there alone. That neighborhood used to be my first due area when I was with the fire department, and I saw more killings and attacks in that neighborhood than I care to remember. In fact, there was an episode of a cop show filmed in that neighborhood in the early 90s, and in one episode, an undercover cop was smashed in the face with a brick. The place has gotten much worse since then.

The American Thinker posted an interesting article on the life of Trayvon Martin. Published by the Defense were the pictures from Martin’s cell phone, and the texts from that same phone. (pdf warnings for both)

He is hardly the choirboy that the press wants you to believe that he is.

Unless something changes in this case, I am thinking that acquittal is a fairly high probability.

Following what seems to be standard police procedure nowadays, police in South Holland shot a dog that was not threatening anyone. They were caught on video standing there watching the dog for over 20 minutes, before shooting a dog three times that was not threatening them.

Also following what seems to be police standards, they didn’t even kill it. With this poor marksmanship, you have to wonder who the REAL threat to public safety is.