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OpEdNews Op Eds    H2'ed 7/19/13

A Deadly Combination: Stand Your Ground, Concealed Carry and Vigilantism

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Michael Payne
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Here's some advice to those who refuse to own guns but now have a great degree of fear as they live in this very dangerous society. Look into buying a taser, a non-lethal defensive weapon that uses electroshock to ward off an assailant's attack. Tasers are not classified as firearms and are legal in 43 states. These defensive measures are not for everyone and those who intend to purchase them should check first with their local law enforcement authorities to get permission and then follow associated guidelines.

 

We must not allow ourselves to sink into a national quagmire in which various elements of this society have developed such a lack of trust and fear of each other that they must resort to the use of deadly weapons to deal with mutual problems and to settle disputes with violent confrontations instead of using common sense and rational thinking.

 

This society that purports to be advanced and exceptional should be better than this but it certainly is not. We are allowing violence and brutality against our fellow citizens to escalate at a time when we should be pulling out all stops to find intelligent ways to stem its tide. The pervasive presence of violence in America is everywhere; it's fills our television screens, our newspapers, the radio, movies, and video games. And then we wonder why this country is so very violent?

 

What is so very troubling is that the more people use guns to justify their actions against their fellow Americans the more rapidly this nation will become a police state. At some time in the future I can envision a massive confrontation between this nation's ever growing police presence and the vigilantes and pistol-packing Americans that want to take the law into their own hands. And, of course, we know who will win that battle.

 

I believe that the trial of George Zimmerman for the killing of Trayvon Martin will be the spark that ignites an atmosphere of confrontation in this society, one that is currently impossible to imagine. What I can envision happening in the future is that many young men like Trayvon, after watching this trial and its controversial outcome, will never allow that violence to happen to them. If we think the proliferation of guns in America is a massive problem, just wait because we ain't seen nothin yet.

 

It's conceivable that these young men might use this law, just as Zimmerman did, to avoid incarceration by claiming they were within the law by standing their ground when they retaliated against vigilante types who had confronted them. Wouldn't that be ironic? How would our judicial system handle that?

 

In fact, stand your ground, not backed by any legislation, has been in effect in the Chicago inner city as well as in other cities across this nation for decades. Gangs are, in effect, standing their ground when confronted by other gangs who they feel pose an imminent threat to them. Is this what we want to happen if the judicial precedent set in the Zimmerman trial is allowed to escalate into vigilantism? Don't think that this insidious process of violence can't spread within America because once it gathers momentum it certainly can.

 

We're going to see more guns, more people using stand your ground and concealed carry laws, more vigilantes coming onto the scene and a great deal more violence, mayhem and havoc in this already very violent society unless we find the ways to derail this deadly process.

 

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