Give Cosby credit for not being playing the race card, but he’s still not thinking this through completely.
If an investigation proves Zimmerman’s side of the story, “the gun” will end up being what might have saved his life.
We have a God-given right to patrol our own neighborhoods, which can be dangerous work. And if in the act of doing so we are attacked, “the gun” can come in awfully handy.
Let’s also not forget that Zimmerman claims he wasn’t following Trayvon Martin when the teenager attacked him.
“The gun.”
Those two simple words flowed easily from the mouth of social commentator Bill Cosby during an exclusive interview Friday regarding the Trayvon Martin case, arguably the most high-profile, citizen-on-citizen U.S. slaying facing the Obama administration.
Trayvon was killed Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla., by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman, who told police that a “confrontation” with the unarmed 17-year-old led him to shoot in self-defense.
Mr. Cosby, a Navy veteran, said “the gun” empowered Mr. Zimmerman, whose actions have stirred a firestorm of debate, protests and remarks from President Obama.
“We’ve got to get the gun out of the hands of people who are supposed to be on neighborhood watch,” said Mr. Cosby, whose remarks were the first he has made publicly about the case.
“Without a gun, I don’t see Mr. Zimmerman approaching Trayvon by himself,” Mr. Cosby explained. “The power-of-the-gun mentality had him unafraid to confront someone. Even police call for backup in similar situations.
“When you carry a gun, you mean to harm somebody, kill somebody,” he said.
Regardless of how the upcoming investigation shakes out, “the gun” is never the issue. It’s who holds the gun.