Let me start by saying that a young man is dead and by all possible measures, this is a tragedy.

Everybody wants answers.

The people who love Trayvon Martin need for him to have been a helpless victim who did nothing to incite the violence that ended his life. Otherwise, he may not have been the fine young man they believe they raised him to be.

People who are sensitive to racism need for George Zimmerman to go to jail, otherwise our nation hasn’t come very far in the last 200 years and if Trayvon Martin can be killed for being a black kid in the wrong place at the wrong time, than anyone could get killed for simply being the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Folks who are appalled at the youth of today, dismayed by the growth of gangs and who fear the likelihood they they may one day find themselves the victim of youthful violence need for Zimmerman to be innocent because they need their fears to be appeased and their right to defend themselves at all cost to be upheld.

So many people have decided who did what, when, with so little real information.

Only George Zimmerman can really know what actually happened when Trayvon Martin was shot, and what he says, even what he believes to be true, may not be completely accurate.

In the absence of facts of an eye witness the rest of us can only guess.

The facts show that nether Trayvon Martin, or George Zimmerman are above reproach.

Trayvon Martin, despite the best efforts of his parents who appear to be wonderful loving people, was not a sweet, innocent young boy. (An image that the press is irresponsibly presenting by insisting on using a photograph of Trayvon that is many years old.)

If available sources are to be believed, Trayvon Martin was not a model young citizen.

1. He had been suspended from school for drug possession.
2. He had been suspended from school for spray painting graffiti.
3. He had been suspended from school for assaulting a bus driver.

Worse than the above is his twitter posts, posted via his online name of NO_LIMIT_NIGGA, which clearly demonstrate a disrespect for others, an enthusiasm toward violence and an utter disrespect for women.

Now I never met Trayvon Martin but these things unavoidably suggest that he was not a good or innocent kid. He’s certainly not the kind of kid I would let my children hang out with.

A documented disrespect for other people and a documented history of assaulting at least one other adult combined with a documented history of drugs involvement is strong circumstantial evidence.

But, while these things make suggestions about his character, none of them are – on and of themselves – evidence of any value in determining what actually happened when Trayvon was shot.

George Zimmerman presents a history of concern also. Zimmerman had been arrested twice for domestic assault and once for assaulting a police officer. Though he does not appear to have been convicted, these items of circumstantial evidence weigh against him as equality as Trayvon’s history does against him. Domestic assault, if in fact he committed these acts demonstrates a depraved disregard for others, even those close to him. Assault on a Police Officer suggests a lack of respect for authority and the law of the land.

Unfortunately, none of the above constitutes evidence as to what actually happened the night Trayvon Martin was shot.

So, what DO we actually know?

Well, we know that George Zimmerman was licensed to carry a firearm and we know that he was on a regular neighbourhood watch when he saw Trayvon Martin in his gated community.

There has been much speculation that Zimmerman “profiled” Trayvon because he is black. I don’t personally know George Zimmerman and he may, in fact, be a racist.

Or he may have “profiled” Trayvon simply for being a young man, that he was not familiar with and that looked like he didn’t belong in George’s gated community.

Zimmerman did, after all, call the police to report a suspicious subject.

The press, and so called community leaders who like to fuel the frenzy of racial hate have mad a big deal of police “telling” Zimmerman not to follow the suspect that he called them about. However the 911 call clearly tells us that this is not what he was told. The 911 dispatcher informed Zimmerman, in regards to following the suspect, “we don’t need you to do that”.

There is NO LAW against one person following another personal in a public area. Doing so does not constitute an attack and if Trayvon Martin challenged and then struck George Zimmerman for following him, then Trayvon committed an unjustifiable assault.

I believe that it is likely that Trayvon DID take issue with George Zimmerman following him.

All my black friends, without exception, have shared stories with me about incidents in which they were treated with suspicion for what they believed to be no other reason other than the color of their skin. I have no doubt that this happens (in fact I have personally witnessed it) and it is certainly reasonable to understand that a young black man have a sensitivity to being evaluated in this way, whether it happened in this instance or not.

George Zimmerman admitted to following Trayvon Martin and says that Trayvon took issue with Zimmerman by turning and asking “Do you have a problem”. It is quite possible that Trayvon Martin felt that HE was in danger.

Zimmerman also says Trayvon Martin struck him in the head at this point in the sequence of events.

This may have happened or it may not. I don’t think whether Trayvon did, or did not hit Zimmerman at this point doesn’t really effect the question of whether or not lethal force was justified here.

At this point – violence had begun between Martin and Zimmerman and there has been much discussion as to what Zimmerman did, what Martin did, what they should have done, and what is legal under the laws of the State of Florida.

Much has been said about Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law as it pertains to this case. (And in general because of this case.)

[ Disclaimer: I am not an attorney! ]

The basic premise of a “Stand Your Ground” law is simple. If you are attacked, even in a public place, you have no LEGAL duty to retreat as an alternative to using force to defend yourself. In the absence of a “Stand Your Ground” law, if you are attacked, you have a legal obligation to run from that attack if you can safely do so. In some states the obligation is waived in your own home and in others, it is not.

FYI, I am enthusiastically in favor of “Stand Your Ground” laws because I believe the absence of them empowers the thug to harass or assault a law abiding citizen because that citizen has a LEGAL OBLIGATION to flee.

However, though I’m in favor of “Stand Your Ground” laws, I don’t think people SHOULD “stand their ground” if they can safely retreat.

As a defensive tactics and firearms instructor I tell my students that they should always retreat from violence if they can safely do so because not engaging in a fight offers the highest probability of survival. What’s more, even if the law would support the use of lethal force, taking a human life if it is not absolutely necessary is a terrible, terrible thing to do and to live with.

So should George Zimmerman have followed Trayvon Martin? Probably not, but doing so was neither illegal or an instigation of violence.

The other self appointed “experts” have decried that since Trayvon Martin did not have a gun or a knife there is no way that Zimmerman could have been justified in the use of deadly force. This is simply an incorrect contention. One does not need to possess a gun of knife to have lethal capacity.

These same combat experts also suggest that Zimmerman was much bigger that Martin and THAT is the reason that lethal force could not have been justified. WRONG ! I don’t think the relative size differences between Martin and Zimmerman have been communicated with any real accuracy, and even if Zimmerman is bigger than Martin, I consider the argument invalid. A person should not have to take the chance on winning a fight that might end their life just because he is physically bigger than the other. After all, Bruce Lee weighed only about 130 pounds.

The question is not whether or not Trayvon Martin had a weapon, or if he was bigger or smaller than George Zimmerman. Nor is the question whether Trayvon was up to no good in Zimmerman’s neighbourhood, or if Zimmerman followed Martin after the police told him it wasn’t necessary. It’s not even whether or not Trayvon Martin threw the first punch.

[ Disclaimer Again, I'm not an attorney. ]

The basic legal concept behind the justifiable use of lethal force is this. A citizen may use lethal force if, at the instance that lethal force is taken, that citizen truly and reasonably believes that their life, or the life of another person is in eminent danger from the attacker.

So the question is not who did what to who first. The question is, at the instant that George Zimmerman pulled the trigger, was it necessary for him to do so in order to save his own life?

Now, some folks are saying that Zimmerman shot Martin because he was a racist and that during the 911 call he used a racial slur by saying “effing coon”. Zimmerman’s defenders say that we was simply commenting to himself that it was cold outside. I listened to the 911 call made by Zimmerman. To me, it didn’t sound like he said the word “cold” but it doesn’t make sense that he would share a racial slur with the 911 dispatcher either.

There were several other 911 calls as well, made by residents of the gated community where the incident took place. One of them provides an audio record of the event, including the gunshot, as it happened.

Unfortunately the audio is inconclusive. Someone was screaming help and THAT person was screaming for his life. Trayvon’s family says it was Trayvon screaming for help. Zimmerman’s friends say it was he who was screaming for help.

We may never know who it was, tough after listening to the recording I have to say that, in my opinoin, it sounded more like Trayvon Martin than George Zimmerman. What we do know is that at the instant the gun shot is heard the screaming for help stops. That much is clearly heard on the tape. (and as circumstantial evidence goes, that does not bear well for George Zimmerman.)

Working only from the factual data that has been made public to date, there are only two undisputed facts.

1. Trayvon Martin is dead and George Zimmerman shot him.
2. Someone was screaming for help and that screaming stopped when the gun was fired.

Everything else is circumstantial and this is terribly frustrating.

I do not want to see an innocent man convicted of a crime if he was only defending himself simply because a young man is dead and society needs someone to pay for it so that everything can be concluded nicely and neatly.

But I also don’t want the death of a young man to go unpunished if, in fact, he was killed unlawfully.

It is my hope that trial will reveal definitive evidence that clearly exonerates or incriminates George Zimmerman. I hope that Trayvon Martin’s fate was not determined by racism and I hope that George Zimmerman’s fate is not determined by an attempt to prove that the system is not racially biased.

In the course of coaching people about surviving violence I have meet victims of great violence and I have met people who have been put in situations where they have needed to use lethal force to survive. Both groups of people had their lives changed forever as a result as did the people who love them.

Could Trayvon Martin have avoided the confrontation that ultimately ended his life ? I think so.

Could George Zimmerman have avoided the confrontation that resulted in him taking a life? I think so.

Though I believe strongly that a citizen has, and should have, the right to use lethal force to defend his life and the life of others he chooses to protect – I also think that a human being has a moral obligation to avoid the use of lethal force if at all possible, even if the use of lethal force might be legal.

I don’t think Trayvon Martin was a good or innocent kid. The evidence pretty clearly suggests he was not, but are any of us defined as adults by the person we were when we were 17 years old. Would Trayvon Martin have grown up to be a serial rapist or a winner of the Nobel peace prize? Sadly, we will never know.

Though I don’t believe the information available to the public, at this point, is sufficient to convict George Zimmerman of 2^nd Degree Murder, it is my opinion that it’s likely that he could have avoided the death of Trayvon Martin. What I can’t tell is whether or not George Zimmerman truly and reasonably believed that his life was in danger.

No matter what happened and whether or not it was justified or preventable, a 17 year old boy is dead and THAT is a tragedy.

Ultimately a judge or a jury will decide the fate of George Zimmerman. I wish I could say that the prospect of that decision leaves me confident that justice will be done (whether Zimmerman is aquited or convicted) bu, alas, it does not.

Either way, let us morn the loss of a young man’s life by renewing our efforts to raise fine, respectful, law abiding young men.

And for those of us who choose to carry a firearm as an instrument of personal protection, let us also morn the loss of a young man’s life by but dedicating at least as much energy to training such that we can survive violence without taking a life – as we do training to use lethal force if we find our lives in mortal jeopardy.