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May 29, 2012

Pro-Gun Activist on Trayvon Shooting Range Targets: "GOOD! MAYBE MORE PEOPLE WON'T MISS!"

Ever since Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by concealed handgun permit holder George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) has been deluged with emails from pro-gun activists celebrating the teen's death. We have previously posted these comments here, here, here, here and here. Here's the latest batch...

When CSGV posted an article at our Facebook page about Trayvon Martin shooting range targets being sold online, pro-gun activist Jeff Robinson commented, "LOL.. GOOD! MAYBE MORE PEOPLE WON'T MISS!"

Despite the fact that the Sanford Police Department made it clear that "There is no indication that Trayvon Martin was involved in any criminal activity at the time of the encounter [with Zimmerman]," pro-gun activist Ken Soderstrom of Greenville, North Carolina Tweeted at us, "who went 2 the store to buy Skittles & iced tea and case the neighborhood?"

And Soderstorm wasn't done. He later Tweeted at us, "How much damage would have been done if Trayvon hadn't been killed? We shouldn't expect ANYONE to find out."

Ryan Webman of Aventura, Florida was another pro-gunner who checked into our Facebook page to celebrate Trayvon's death. "Who cares" that Florida's concealed handgun permitting system didn't know that George Zimmerman was on anti-anxiety medication, he wrote, "he took another criminal off the streets!!! Good for him."

Pro-gun activist Eric Sharples of Daytona Beach, Florida was equally blunt, writing on our Facebook page, "How is it gun violence when the man was attacked by the gangster wankster, he wasn't some small young boy that was just skipping down the ghetto streets singing and laughing with his skittles that he probably stole anyways. If you see any recent pictures of him, hes tall, hes built, he flips off the camera to look like a hardass. He clearly wants people to think hes a tough guy, well... Look where that tough guy shit gets you. The more tough guys, the more gun violence. May you should start another useless coalition called, The Coalition to Stop Tough Guys. Fuggin idiots. If anything, YOU are keeping this issue alive. YOU are keeping racism alive and well. Dont put up this innocent front to spread your hate. Dont martyr this kid, how fucked up is that. Youre using, I repeat, YOU are USING this kids death to gain attention and popularity for your useless cause that will never go into affect. Guns don't cause these problems, people do. What if we had swords instead of guns, would you try to outlaw spears and guns. How would you defend yourself, how would you hunt? Your ideas are pointless and will solve nothing. If people want to kill other people, theyre going to regardless of what weapon they are allowed to have. Dumb people are holding back the process of evolution, so either evolve of shut the fuck up. Outlaws spears and swords**, not guns. Now I sound like you guys lol." As it turns out, Sharples speaks from experience. His criminal record suggests he has some "gangster wankster" issues himself.

When subtle racism doesn't work, pro-gunners go with something a bit more hardcore. Pro-gunner "Sabine" took this route when he Tweeted the following at us: "Dat tall dk boy not b yelling skeered. But dat lite dude under? He b crying lika baaaby cuz he gone die 2nite iffn he don't shoot now!"

Pro-gun activists also continued to impersonate African-Americans on Facebook. One pro-gunner created the personae of Zeke Fulton, whose employer is listed as "y wrk wen u can steel stuff" and whose interests include "Hot Gay Sex," "Lil Wayne" and "Basketball." "Zeke" visited our Facebook page to comment on the District of Columbia's tough gun laws: "wow DC is keeping gunsaway frm peole is good. makin it safe for me."

Then there were a series of anonymous comments left by pro-gunners on our blogs. One commenter made it clear to us that the entire gun violence problem in the United States is the fault of African-Americans, writing, "Most perpetrators of firearms crimes ARE dis-proportionally black. The fact that this group seems to lump in 'suicide' under the auspice of 'gun violence' shows the despicable anti-constitutional rhetoric we in the firearms community have come to expect. I think perhaps you should look under the USDOJ which has shown that the Black Community is six to seven times higher in their rate of violent crime, yet groups like yours would wish the good people who need to live in those same areas to be left defenseless. You should be ashamed."

"Sporko" made a crude joke that we're still struggling to understand: "What?! That's DISGUSTING. Why would someone even SUGGEST they NOT raise their son to be a THUG? That's so fcuking racist. IT'S PART OF THE BLACK CULTURE. What's next? Asking a Chinese restaurant to start serving cheeseburgers? When will it end?! THINK OF THE CHILDREN."

In a blog we wrote about another unarmed African-American teenager who was killed by a concealed handgun permit holder in Florida, a pro-gunner commented, "Yea, kids roving around robbing people need protection. We need to stop this whole "every life is precious" bit, because not all are. If you think otherwise you're blind."

Finally, when CSGV's Ladd Everitt blogged at the website Waging Nonviolence to discuss Trayvon Martin and the NRA's "Stand Your Ground" law, a pro-gunner called "vaccuum" made his feelings about the dead young man clear: "Let's ask someone who has been killed in a fistfight what exactly 'deadly force' is. I'll be damned if my family is left without a provider because some jerk's parents didn't raise their kid right and has ALWAYS minimized his behavior as victim of some sinister plot designed BY idiots, FOR idiots."

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