Shoot first and ask questions later
by digby
I think it may really be time for foreign nations to issue travel advisories for certain American states. When this is considered justice, anyone with any thought for their own safety should ask whether or not it’s just too dangerous to go there:
Seventeen-year-old Darrell Niles was in his car, minding his own business back in 2010 when 33-year-old Shannon Anthony Scott shot and killed him.
Earlier that day, a group of girls had followed and threatened Scott’s 15-year-old daughter. They later drove past Scott’s house in an SUV. But when Scott walked out of his house with a handgun to confront the “women thugs,” as he described them, he instead fired straight into the 1992 Honda of Darrell Niles, who was unarmed. Niles was killed instantly.
Some questions remain in the case: The group of girls may have fired shots first, but testimony is conflicted on if shots were fired at Scott himself, or at all. There is also some indication that Scott was primed to shoot his gun at someone: Even prior to the shooting, he had a sign in his window that read, “Fight Crime – Shoot First,” according to a 5th Circuit Assistant Solicitor.
Despite the defense’s evidence that Scott had no proof the young man was an “imminent threat,” Scott’s attorney — who, oddly enough, is state Rep. Todd Rutherford (D-SC) — argued that if Scott hadn’t shot Niles, he would have had to go back to his home and “hope that the cavalry (police) are going to come.”
“All that matters is that Mr. Scott felt his life was in jeopardy,” Rutherford said.
On Wednesday, Circuit Judge Maite Murphy accepted those arguments and ruled that Scott believed he was aiming for the group that had threatened his daughter, and therefore was protected under South Carolina’s 2006 Stand Your Ground law.
Wow. So, if he hadn’t shot an innocent bystander he would have had to go into his house and call the police? That’s a reasonable excuse?
When you have laws that say you can shoot and kill completely innocent bystanders because you “feel threatened”, innocent bystanders are going to be shot and killed. These yahoos with guns are the most paranoid freaks in this country — they truly believe the government is coming to take their guns away and put them in FEMA camps. And these laws have given such head cases permission to shoot first and ask questions later — just like the sign in that man’s window says.
Yes, best to just stay away from the states that have enacted these laws — and if you’re a praying sort, take a moment to pray for the innocent people who live in those states who want nothing to do with this lunacy. They have to look over their shoulders every day …
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