Michael Dunn is not a murderer even if he made his best attempt.

Michael Dunn was charged with attempted murder regarding the lives of the three young men who survived his shooting rampage.  Dunn received a mistrial on the more heinous crime of first degree murder for the killing of Jordan Davis who Dunn claims had a shotgun pointed at him.

For there to be a mistrial on the most important point of murder says a lot about the nature of the deliberation of that jury room.  It says a lot more about the reality of Stand Your Ground Laws (SYG) and how they are impacting some of our perceptions of justice in America.

What is not congruent in this decision is the impression of the shooting scene that eased the jury into a fairly quick decision regarding attempted murder but an uncertain conclusion regarding murder.  Their inability to convict on every count means that they believed some aspect of the Dunn defense.  Not only did they believe his story to be plausible, they arbitrarily decided to ignore the crime scene and focus on the testimony of the accused.

You see, to assume that he is clearly guilty of attempted murder and not murder means that he is shooting bullets with artificial intelligence.  If the bullets shot in self defense had killed more people than he would have had less sentencing because all of the dead would have been covered by the SYG explanation that created a mistrial on murder.  The bullets that he shot at the rear of the car as it drove away from the scene are likely the bullets that produced this conviction.  Essentially, these bullets and only these bullets were seen as murderous bullets, while all of the others had the potential to be justified bullets.

This jury has essentially said that the guy who shot at the side of the car could have been defending himself but the guy who shot at the  back of the car was attempting a murder.  To believe this you have to think that Dunn had a personality transformation that shifted him from a free American with the right to feel safe from outside attack into one who was looking to rid this land of a few of its rap loving scum.

Take a moment and imagine the first gun shot and how many seconds it would take to get the hell out of there. Maybe I am simply not clear enough about life and death gun battles.  I just can't relate to the evolution from fear to self preservation to attack and destroy within a 15 second gun battle, especially one where every bullet was fired in one direction.

Anyone who understands the use of deadly force understands that it comes with a shoot to kill expectation.  You do not wound your enemy and allow him to kill you in response.  There are really only two options in this story.  Either Dunn saw this car load as a threat to his life or a threat to his freedom.

In 15 seconds of gun fire and escape by the teens in the car, Dunn did not go from a self defender (who never receive return fire) into a world avenger (who never received return fire).  He was the same shooter during the side panel shots as he was at the rear of the car.  He had the same disregard for who lived or died in that car with every shot he fired.  His purpose and intent did not switch itself in the 10 seconds of  heavy gun fire at side of the car versus the 5 seconds at the back of it.

Either Dunn was attempting to murder them all, or was responding in self defense and nothing more.  If even one juror agreed to convict Dunn of attempt but not murder, than that person is not responding to the crime scene but is stretching the definition of justice to fit the parameters of this SYG law.

Any SYG killing can be justified by intent so long as the killer is not around to speak for themselves.  That is what Dunn was attempting to accomplish with his final shots at the back of that car, but he failed.  Since he did not fail at killing Jordan Davis and was NOT convicted of it, I think I get the message.

Michael Dunn is not a capable murderer, he is just capable of attempting it.
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Florida Must Protect Michael Dunn In Order To Preserve It's Law

If you go to Colorado and you are an adult, you can now legally smoke marijuana.  If you travel to Washington, the same is true.  Head out to Vegas and there is legal gambling a plenty.  The prostitution is not technically legal in Vegas like it is in neighboring Reno, Nevada, but no one seems to care that prostitutes advertise openly in the phone book.

There are states you move to when you wish to have lower taxes on your income and states that have plentiful wild game, along with the freedom to bag a few.  If for some reason you are a gun advocate and are sick of crime taking over our streets, you could live in a few states that might cater to your qualms, but none better than Florida. Sunny skies, plush beaches, beautiful people and the kind of stand your ground laws that make you excited to be carrying a weapon.

Did you ever get the feeling that the Keystone pipeline is an inevitable that is getting jammed up for as long as environmentalist can?  Guns make me feel the same way.  The more people scream about banning guns, the higher sales rise in response.  Guns are more than a protected constitutional right, they are a big time business and the line of shoppers seems to never disappear.  Anything that inspires big money can only be defeated by bigger money.

Moreover, the voice of those who use guns has made it perfectly clear that we need more guns in the hands of the good guys just to keep pace with the bad guys.  We have to stop relying on law enforcement and make everyone a potential enforcer of the law.  We must encourage criminals to stop and think about the risk of encountering a person who is prepared to shoot first and ask questions later.

What that means in the end is that we must put our laws where our mouth is  by creating an environment that tests the theories.  If Florida is going to create a state that starts teaching these thugs to be afraid, Florida must preserve the rights of the vigilante, rights that Florida forged into law.  Many rats die in the science lab, but not because no one tried to keep them alive.  Florida has to keep this lab rat alive for the sake of the experiment and for the sake of the argument.



Michael Dunn has the weight of a social ideology behind him on this killing.  Zimmerman did too, but Zimmerman silenced the only voice that could send him to jail.  Dunn has voices to the contrary of his recollection, but they are not fighting for the right to bear arms or the right to use them like Florida lawmakers intended in the making of state gun use laws.

If I had only been so clever as a young man, I would have told mom that I shot my brother with the BB gun because he was walking near me with that same look on his face that he had the last time he beat me up.  What does she want me to do?  Take the first strike, or protect myself and explain my motives later?

Since the choice involved a gun, mom probably charges Dunn with manslaughter (in accordance with Florida law) and I lose my gun for the summer, or until she forgets she is punishing me.  Both punishments will hardly fit the crime....(sorry mom).

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Michael Dunn, George Zimmerman and Florida Proving More Gun Theory Before Our Eyes

Michael Dunn, George Zimmerman and Florida Proving "More Gun" Theory Before Our Eyes

Whenever you create laws that protect your use of guns, you run the risk of indisputable vigilantism.

The real surprise is not that we have yet another teen killing in Florida, the surprise is that we don't have more.  'When Michael Dunn gets off for the murder of 17 year old Jordan Davis, we all will get to argue over some peculiar facts.  Dunn will get acquitted for rolling down his window and asking the car load of black youth, "are you talking to me?".  It appears that they were guilty of playing that "rap crap" a bit too loudly for Dunn's liking.  But it was the shot gun that they just so happened to be riding down the street with, which they proceeded to aim at Dunn, causing him to shoot back in self defense.  No shotgun was found so Dunn surmises that they got rid of it before they tried to save the life of their friend.

Did Dunn just so happen to have his gun cocked and ready when he saw the shotgun, or did he swiftly respond to the sight of a shotgun by reaching to get his own gun and opening fire before getting one bullet in return fire; especially from a shooter who already had their hand on the trigger of the gun Dunn claims to have stared down the barrel at.

Much like George Zimmerman, he only has sensibility working against him, none of which resides in Florida.  Well, to be fair, there might be a lot of sensible people living in Florida.  Some might even be on the jury in this trial, but the law that they allowed through intention or neglect has offered an easy way to ease an itchy trigger finger.

You don't have to own guns as an adult to remember your journey with guns.  For boys and girls all over the land, our love affair with guns began long long ago, after fulfilling some birthday or Christmas wish.

Your first piece was one of those noise making kind that look pretty fake, but made you feel like a cowboy.  These guns are wrought with positives and negatives.  The positive is that a kid with a pretty good imagination could spend hours with that noisy crap and never make you worry about damage to anything but your nerves.

The down side is that kids grow up pointing safe guns at the face of one another, which is not a habit that works well when the trigger finally releases more than a noise.  Our safe guns became like candy cigarettes;  probably okay to have, but an odd behavior to promote.

When I first got a BB gun, I couldn't wait to go outside each morning and try to take out a squirrel or a bird in my area.  I tried to be a safe user of the toy, as did my friends, but most of us remember hitting someone in the face with a pellet, or taking one ourselves.

Firing ranges are probably fun, but don't you ever drive around with your legal gun, or walk in an ugly side of town with your permit to carry and think; "I really hope some idiot gives me a reason today"?

No?

Never?

Well, if you never get the urge to wake up early and clean your new assault rifle and stand with it in your front room and imagine that burglar you bought it for, you are better than me. I had to get rid of all thoughts of video games because I get obsessive over new toys.  An actual gun would have me dreaming of making one of those internet videos, 'murder of a watermelon'. My first watermelon was a poor squirrel that got the unfortunate luck of my sling shot and a strong wind when it fell from the power line to the ground. (Head trauma.....didn't end well).

I am certain that this has something to do with my aversion to weapons of all kind, yet the depravity did not end there.

That dead squirrel that I accidentally killed on purpose did not cure me.  Someone, probably not me, had to finish that squirrel with a shovel and dump it in the dumpster because I made excuses when confronted with what had happened, and I ran from the responsibility in the end.  I wasn't quite 7 yet, but I knew better even though killing that squirrel was the reason for making the sling shot.  If I got caught hitting a person I would not get to use them anymore, so I practiced on bottles until I thought I could hit an animal.

I missed every animal, until I didn't.

Guns are so dangerous that most states put harsh penalties around the misuse of them.  Florida has made it easier to consider the option more readily.  Florida has said what all gun rights activist seem to believe, that our problem is not too many guns, its not enough guns in the hands of good people. What that statement declares is that good people, whoever and wherever you are, must start packing a piece and LOOK for an opportunity to do good for your country.  If you do not feel safe to act, the very concept of citizens with guns loses its value and purpose.

You see, the theory is that criminals need to start getting shocked when they discover that people will defend themselves and pop a cap in your ass.  Once again, this demands the willingness and freedom to shoot first and ask questions later....and not go to prison.  You can't claim the power of a gun in the hands of normal people and not make it easier for normal people to use them without hesitation.  The people who write these laws are the normal people with guns imagining what they might need from the law when they are forced to pop a cap in your ass.

They are absolutely right in regards to the demands of a law that says shooting people is the way to get bad folks to worry about who has a gun.  If you make a mistake in the process, you need only the defense of motive to gain the protection of the law.  Even if their theory happens to one day coincide with reduced crime in Florida, the connection to the killing of Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis, and others before them, and more to come will be coincidental at best.

If Michael Dunn gets convicted to anything, it won't be hard time like some are hoping for.  Such a conviction and sentence would shoot a bullet into the intent of this Florida law.  A soft sentence like probation and anger management training will preserve the sanctity of this stand your ground law.......and will piss off those looking for justice to high heaven.

Next Post:  The Future of Stand Your Ground Laws