On February 26 last year, neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman saw 17-year-old Trayvon Martin walking through his Florida town and decided he looked suspicious. Zimmerman followed Martin on foot, and killed him with a pistol.
Saturday, Zimmerman was declared not guilty of any crime related to Martin’s death. The media covered the trial extensively, and many people are outraged that the jury chose to acquit Zimmerman.
But Zimmerman should not have been convicted. The fact of the matter is that he did nothing illegal. And that’s what people should be upset about.
What everyone needs to understand is that in Florida, you are allowed to kill someone if you feel threatened by them. This is what now-infamous “stand your ground” laws accomplish. And so even though Zimmerman stalked Martin, initiated the conflict between the two of them and escalated that conflict from fisticuffs to a gunshot, he didn’t break the law.
We shouldn’t be clamoring for Zimmerman’s conviction. We should be clamoring for new laws.
We are a culture enamored with guns, because independence through martial strength is part of our national origin. And for years, our courts have defended gun rights ,even while statistics show horrifying trends in gun-related deaths.
Last year, 30,000 Americans were killed by firearms; this year, congress voted against a bill that would have required universal background checks for gun purchases.
This is partially because the NRA and other lobbyist groups have a stupefying level of influence over our lawmaking process, but it’s also because our country has a fetishistic relationship with firearms and self-defense. We allow absurd laws and norms because we love the idea of defending our possessions and loved ones with guns. It’s part of our national identity.
This is what allows someone like Zimmerman to murder – yes, I said murder – an unarmed boy without breaking any laws. It’s what allowed the Aurora, Sandy Hook and Newtown shooters to obtain AR-15 rifles designed specifically for mass shootings. And it contributes to an American death toll that we simply wouldn’t accept from any other source.
The Zimmerman case should be a wake-up call for us to reconsider the way we think about guns. It should make us think about the fact that self-defense is a legal excuse even if you started the fight. It should make us think about the fact that neighborhood watch members have some of the authority of police officers but little of the accountability. It should make us question why we so desperately want guns for protection, even when nobody has any idea how many crimes are actually thwarted by guns.
Most of all, it should make us question why violence is our preferred peacekeeping tool. And it should make us think about ways of preventing crime that don’t rely on the judgment of people like Zimmerman.
Because when you boil it all down, Zimmerman is a murderer but not a criminal. And that’s something no American should be prepared to accept.
Nathan James is a junior majoring in public relations.
