I think this case was doomed from the start for the prosecution. The jury selection was lopsided. The judge seemed to be playing defense lawyer and not judge. He stopped the prosecution from using prior acts The judge berated the prosecution in front of the jury. And even if you want to say the long gun was of legal size, Kyle still was not of age to be possessing it, and he illegally transported it across state lines. Those charges were dismissed.
I have always been of the mindset that it is better to let one guilty person go free than to convict one innocent person. But what this judge did set that jury up to do what they did in my estimation. This has very dangerous implications for the future. It basically says to society, if you want to be a vigilante and play cop and shoot people dead, you can.
Kyle was NOT defending his own home town. He was not defending his home. He went out looking for trouble. He wanted to prove what a big man he was. I can see the victims thinking Kyle was an "active shooter". If you point a gun at me and I don't know whom you are, what am I supposed to think? If I think you are going to shoot me, of course I am going to grab for the gun, because I don't want to die.
But now because of these not guilty verdicts, anyone who wants to play Rambo who isn't qualified and doesn't have a job in law enforcement or the National Guard, can pretend to be "heros".
The telling thing about this case, one of Kyle's lawyers basically said after the fact, "I personally wouldn't carry an Ar-15 into that kind of situation."
Even his lawyer admits Kyle shouldn't have done what he did. But why is it Kyle gets off? Does anyone really think that if it were Black Panthers showing up to a KKK rally and a Black Panther killed two people they'd be let off?
My point is, if everyone is walking around in public with firearms and nobody knows whom anyone is, shit like this case is always going to happen. What I do not like, is how white people always seem to get the benefit of the doubt in similar situations?
If one wants to argue a history of "Deputizing" in American history, maybe that is true, but there is no such thing as "self Deputizing" in any case. Once Kyle took it upon himself to travel there, he lost all rights to claim self defense. That moron simply thought if he could flash his AR-15 that would be enough to deter people. But that is a lie. He wasn't there to deter people, he was there to intimidate them.
I have always been of the mindset that it is better to let one guilty person go free than to convict one innocent person. But what this judge did set that jury up to do what they did in my estimation. This has very dangerous implications for the future. It basically says to society, if you want to be a vigilante and play cop and shoot people dead, you can.
Kyle was NOT defending his own home town. He was not defending his home. He went out looking for trouble. He wanted to prove what a big man he was. I can see the victims thinking Kyle was an "active shooter". If you point a gun at me and I don't know whom you are, what am I supposed to think? If I think you are going to shoot me, of course I am going to grab for the gun, because I don't want to die.
But now because of these not guilty verdicts, anyone who wants to play Rambo who isn't qualified and doesn't have a job in law enforcement or the National Guard, can pretend to be "heros".
The telling thing about this case, one of Kyle's lawyers basically said after the fact, "I personally wouldn't carry an Ar-15 into that kind of situation."
Even his lawyer admits Kyle shouldn't have done what he did. But why is it Kyle gets off? Does anyone really think that if it were Black Panthers showing up to a KKK rally and a Black Panther killed two people they'd be let off?
My point is, if everyone is walking around in public with firearms and nobody knows whom anyone is, shit like this case is always going to happen. What I do not like, is how white people always seem to get the benefit of the doubt in similar situations?
If one wants to argue a history of "Deputizing" in American history, maybe that is true, but there is no such thing as "self Deputizing" in any case. Once Kyle took it upon himself to travel there, he lost all rights to claim self defense. That moron simply thought if he could flash his AR-15 that would be enough to deter people. But that is a lie. He wasn't there to deter people, he was there to intimidate them.
