Posted by Julie Owens

I’m very worried about my Facebook friends and my readers.  I am alive today because in 1992 I had the good sense to hide the judge’s arsenal of guns where he couldn’t and wouldn’t find them.  Was he pissed?  Oh, yeah.  I didn’t care.  I was safe.

Today, the tables are turned.  I live in a “Stand Your Ground” or “Castle Doctrine” state.  He doesn’t.

For a few seconds, I entertained myself with the fantasy that he’d actually be dumb enough to show his face ~ that’s not his stalking style ~ he prefers behind-the-scenes stealth ~ outside my door, and I could use the Castle Doctrine and George Zimmerman’s precedent to blow his sorry ass into hell where it belongs.

Source: US Dept of Justice

There are two problems with this fantasy:  1) I’m smart enough to know that gun ownership is a good way to end up dead. The homicide statistics are clear:  it is more likely that I’ll be murdered with my own gun by someone I know than someone I don’t know.  2) I’m a female, and he’s a retired judge.  Self-defense isn’t going to work for me, and I don’t look good in prison orange.

George Zimmerman's DV mug shot

Is a George Zimmerman in Your Life?

There’s only one reason people own guns:  they plan on using them to kill something.  Will it be you or your kids?

Look at the statistics.  You don’t need those guns to protect yourself from a stranger.

I’ve read all the nonsense about responsible gun ownership that fans of the Second Amendment tell each other after somebody ends up dead.  They delude themselves that it won’t happen to someone they love. . .until it does.  I wonder how often as the casket gets lowered into the ground that the grieving gun owners wished they’d gotten the guns out of their homes before the accident.

If George Zimmerman’s bullshit claim of self-defense sticks, nobody with a vigilante, pit bull/PAS abuser in their lives will be safe at home or anywhere else.  Nobody.  These guys will be able to avoid a trip to jail and litigation abuse by shooting you dead and claiming self-defense under the Castle Doctrine in a whole lot of states.  Ironically, Florida shouldn’t be one of them:  1) Trayvon Martin wasn’t inside Zimmerman’s home or car, and 2) he was lawfully in the common area of his father’s condo complex.

Trayvon Martin

Mr. Martin is still dead, and Mr. Zimmerman is getting away with claiming self-defense under “Stand Your Ground” legislation which clearly doesn’t apply to this case.

Why?  His daddy is a retired judge.  He likely already used his clout twice to get his son off with barely a slap on the wrist.  The law means nothing in the face of political power.

We have learned from the Susan Cox Powell case that law “enforcement” doesn’t intervene until there’s a dead body.  Then, they can be fatally slow to protect the eye-witness survivors.

In recent weeks, three kids in Washington State got their hands on their parents’ guns.  Two kids are dead, and the other was wounded critically.  Two sets of parents are in jail.  The other is a cop.  I’m certain the cop was one of those responsible gun owners.  His daughter is still dead.  In 2010, another deputy’s toddler son fatally shot himself with daddy’s gun.

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