Zimmerman advised by animal control to buy gun to protect himself from pit bull.

[dkf]

Leading the new details in Chris Francescani's 2,650-word feature about Zimmerman's background, his family, his career, and his prior troubles with the law, is the story about how Zimmerman came to carry a gun. It started when a neighborhood dog, a pitbull named Big Boi, cornered his wife Shellie Zimmerman in their yard in the fall of 2009. George Zimmerman bought pepper spray, but when he called Seminole County Animal Services to complain about the dog, the officer who responded had this advice for him:

"Don't use pepper spray," he told the Zimmermans, according to a friend. "It'll take two or three seconds to take effect, but a quarter second for the dog to jump you," he said.

"Get a gun."

After completing handgun training, both George and Shellie Zimmerman bought pistols, Francescani reports.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/04/why-george-zimmerman-got-gun/51579/

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/25/us-usa-florida-shooting-zimmerman-idUSBRE83O18H20120425

[Fumesucker]

1. A threatening dog obviously off-leash and animal control says "buy a gun"?

Hmm...

[exboyfil]

2. Actually in most communities nothing is done

until the beast actually attacks a person or another dog. You can complain all you want it usually does no good.

[RitchieRich]

7. great tactic

All the best lies have truth in them. Get people to agree on an irrelevant issue and you magically win the argument. When I lived in S. FL, everyone was nuts over those dogs, most were nice but lots were very not. One of the most liberal people I know hates unleashed dogs, jokingly calling himself the dogkicker, as they aggressively come at us when we're running.

[obamanut2012]

12. +1

[lacrew]

16. I've literally had animal control tell me to shoot my neighbors peacocks...

....with the disclaimer 'you didn't hear that from me'.

[ET Awful]

3. Really? So, he carried the gun in his vehicle to protect him against an alleged

pit bull . . . I'd be interested in hearing what this alleged animal control officer that allegedly told him to arm himself to shoot a dog has to say.

[rfranklin]

4. You have to admit that Trayvon Martin looked a lot like a viscious dog...

Zimmerman could have easily mistaken him for a canine.

[LuvNewcastle]

5. So Trayvon was a werewolf?

This was just a vicious dog attack and Z. was defending himself. Trayvon turned back into a human after he died. Explains everything.

[Fumesucker]

8. Umm.. We prefer "lycanthrope"

Werewolf has so many negative connotations..

[Thor_MN]

15. Most teen wolves wear hoodies, under an athletic jacket...

Easy to see why Zimmerman was confused, Trayvon forgot the athletic jacket and so looked like a plain old wolf in a hoody.






re: the OP, Are there any other things in the news that might tenuously explain why GZ gunned down a teenager?

[geckosfeet]

6. Like you can pull a pistol, take off the safety, aim and fire in a quarter second.

If it is possible at all, it would take years of training to do that.

[spin]

11. Somewhat true. That's why I carry a carry a snub nosed revolver in my pants pocket ...

Last edited Fri Apr 27, 2012, 12:19 AM - Edit history (1)

no safety to worry about. If the shit hits the fan, I can draw the weapon, quickly aim and pull the trigger and it makes a loud noise.

While it is true that even if I have my hand in my pocket on the revolver it will take more than a quarter of a second to draw and fire, I can hit a target at close range very quickly. I have had over 45 years experience target shooting handguns and also many years of practicing the much faster but far less accurate art of self defensive shooting, however it is also a fact that the average individual can learn defensive shooting in a far more reasonable time. Target shooting a handgun may require shooting at a target 75 feet or more. Defensive shooting is most often at 15 feet or less.

I could also point out that many semi-auto pistols do not have a safety lever that you have to disengage. The safety for weapons like the Glock is on the trigger so all you have to do is to point and pull the trigger. Many other pistols are "double action only" like many revolvers and have no external safety.

I personally do not like self defense weapons with a safety lever. Such weapons may be more appropriate for the military.

edited for typo

[geckosfeet]

23. That may be tha case withe Kel Tec 9mm that zimmy was carrying.

http://www.keltecweapons.com/our-guns/pistols/pf-9/

Looks like it was a double action only - no manual safety.

But still - a quarter of a second is downright ridiculous. And he was a lot closer than 15 feet.

[Solomon]

9. Animal control laws are very strict in my community.

Can't imagine they are that lax in Florida. For a cop to tell someone to get a gun instead of citing the owner for an unleashed dog making unwanted contact is just so wrong on so many levels.

[GeorgeGist]

10. What's the difference between Trayvon and a pit bull?

[obamanut2012]

14. I wonder it the pit was raised by a Afro-Peruvian grandfather too?

[obamanut2012]

13. A LEO would never tell someone that

Nor would a non-uniformed animal control officer. Tell a citizen to buy a gun to shoot your neighbor's dog, in a townhome community? uh huh I could see them answering a question that yes, it is legal to defend yourself from a dog that attacks you, including killing the animal if need be.

Why didn't Mr. Faux Watch Commander complain to the townhome management or board? They could make teh owner get rid of the dog.

[-..__...]

19. Because only cops have the right to shoot a dog...

http://www.google.com/search?as_q=police+shoot+dog&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&lr=&cr=&as_qdr=all&as_sitesearch=&as_occt=any&safe=images&tbs=&as_filetype=&as_rights=#hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&q=cops+shoot+family+dog&revid=694223149&sa=X&ei=9lCZT4-pNuri0QG8iMHACg&ved=0CCkQ1QIoBA&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=a9cb7d2ce2ec8908&biw=1440&bih=693

A LEO would never tell someone that

"Never"?

You don't know cops very well... do you?

Especially when they're giving advice to someone they may casually know as opposed to someone they never met before.

[Solomon]

17. If Zimmerman had shot a dog, he'd have been

arrested right away. Such a sad commentary on the value of black life.

[NightWatcher]

18. Scared of dogs, bad guys, and boogiemen...Zim should have stayed home

Instead he went out looking for trouble.

If you want to Protect and Serve try out for the local police department.

[magical thyme]

20. Huh. When I called animal control about my neighbor's 2 dogs

who were crossing the street and attacking me in my garden, I was told "sorry, nothing we can do."

Of course, I'm not in Florida, so I'm not going to dispute the story. But I do take it with a giant crystal of NaCl.

[sadbear]

21. Irrelevant.

Does it make any difference whatsoever that he didn't acquire the gun to specifically shoot an unarmed, black teenager? I mean, I buy my steak knives to cut steak...

[rustydog]

22. Wow, i didn't know there were packs of pit bulls running around, pulling people out

of their vehicles and mauling them...He has a valid point....NOT

Jumping Jesus, It isn't my fault I carry a firearm, the Animal Control officer told me to go buy this make, model and caliber...

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. You are trying too hard

At the Cade evel this matters nothing, not even in sentencing.

Other aspects you ave posted may, operative word may, matter in sentencing.

I got no clue why you throw all this noise into the signal.

For the record, assuming we were both in Floridam neither of us cou qualify for the jury, since we know too much about the case..and that is a good thing.

[Cali_Democrat]

26. Did they advise him to carry a gun when he goes shopping at Target?

Zimmerman claims he was on his way to go shopping at Target when he spotted Trayvon. I didn't know Target has a pit bull problem.

Keep trying....

[gejohnston]

27. I always thought

spray would be more effective against a dog.