Let us say Rochester had a Stand Your Ground Law.
And video showed Zjabs standing at a corner in the middle of Bullshead at 3 AM, then suddenly three African American youths appear. They are holding clubs of wood, and they charge Zjabs. Zjabs reaches into his pocket, pulls out a gun, and shoots the three of them.
All justified under Stand Your Ground (And I'm fairly certain that Zjabs would be cleared even with current laws in Rochester).
But what if there were more than the video showed. What if a few seconds earlier, Zjabs had been standing on that street corner, yelling out the N-word and saying terrible things about the youth's mothers.
No, that's not enough reason for them to attack Zjabs, but that doesn't mean that they won't.
In other words, though I may have the right to defend myself, if I in some way stir the pot in the first place...perhaps I am culpable as well.
Something to think about (and no, I have no idea about any current cases in the news nor am I implying that anything like this happened- if you infer that...that's on you, not me.)
-Zjabs (Rochester's Official Columnist)
© 2012 Zjabs - 5/11/12
