Jesse Jackson’s false sermon on Trayvon Martin

Civil rights icon Jesse Jackson took to the pulpit and the classroom in Miami to sermonize and implore African Americans to vote and to turn the death of Trayvon Martin into action.

“There are lessons in this tragic matter of Trayvon Martin’s death,” Jackson said at 93rd Street Community Baptist Church on Sunday. “It defines white and black in this season -- that racism is alive and doing much too well.”

So are half-truths and distortions – if Jackson’s speech is any measure.

After mentioning the deaths and martyrdom of black activists and youths, Jackson brought up Trayvon’s death Feb. 26 at the hands of neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman, who claimed he was acting in self defense when he shot the unarmed teen in a Sanford gated community.

Jackson pointed out that Trayvon was from Miami Gardens. And he wondered why the teen was all the way in Central Florida staying with his father.

“How did he leave Miami?” Jackson asked, “cause he was suspended from school on some trivial notion that there was some marijuana dust in a bag. If that’s the case -- a child’s about to step in the wrong direction -- you call his mother. You say, ‘mother we need to have a meeting. Your son’s about to make a wrong step.’ And you convene him and his mama in the principal’s office. You don’t throw him away…..Ten day suspension for marijuana dust?”

The following day, at Miami Central, Jackson repeated the line – although he noted “that’s a mistake to have marijuana in a bag.”

If Jackson’s story of the suspension were the whole truth, it might be an outrage (assuming you don’t believe in zero-tolerance for drugs at a public school). But it’s not the whole truth anyway.

As the Miami Herald first reported, Trayvon Martin wasn’t just suspended in February for having marijuana residue. A police report showed he also had a “marijuana pipe.”

And it wasn’t just his first disciplinary incident. It was his third and final. He had been suspended before that for repeated tardiness. And Trayvon also was busted in October when he was spotted marking up a door with “WTF.” A subsequent search of his bag showed he had 12 pieces of jewelry, a watch and a large flathead screwdriver

Sen. Chris Smith releases recommendations for Stand Your Ground reform

Sen. Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, has released a list of recommendations for amending Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, after a task force he convened debated the language of the law earlier this month.

Among the unanimous recommendations:

- Cases should be presented to a Grand Jury to allow for a cross section of society to determine what a reasonable person would do in that case.
- Educate the public and law enforcement
- Create a system to track self-defense claims in Florida
- Add language requiring an “imminent” danger provision throughout the statute
- Change the “Defense of Others” wording in the law’s title to “Defense of Property”
- Allow law enforcement to detain someone who uses the Stand Your Ground defense while they investigate. 

NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer sounds off on New York Times opinion writer

The National Rifle Association's top lobbyist in Florida has squared off against a writer (and gun-owning hunter) who said in a New York Times opinion piece that the NRA cares more about unbridled gun rights than it does about actual hunting.

Lily Raff McCaulou's editorial called out the NRA for not supporting environmental issues that affect hunting and wildlife, and for paying more attention to things like assault weapons and unregulated gun use.

(Here's a link to the piece, titled "I Hunt, but the NRA Isn't For Me.") 

Marion Hammer, a former NRA president and the chief lobbyist responsible for Florida's Stand Your Ground law, is firing back. 

Three South Florida Democrats bash Gov. Scott over public safety task force

On the same day that the New York Times published an op-ed bashing Gov. Rick Scott over the gun-friendly slant of his public safety task force, three South Florida representatives called on him to overhaul the 19-member group.

Reps. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami, Cynthia Stafford, D-Miami and Barbara Watson, D-Miami Gardens, said they want Scott to appoint a more diverse task force to look into Florida's controversial Stand Your Ground law.

At a press conference at Church of the Open Door UCC in a predominantly black section of Miami, the three Democrats criticized Scott for his task force appointees, and called out task force chair Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll for mischaracterizing the selection process last week.

Last week, the Herald/Times reported that three of the four lawmakers on the task force voted for Stand Your Ground in 2005, and a fourth joined the Legislature in 2010. The first bill he passed was a gun-friendly measure banning doctors from asking patients about gun ownership.

Gun Owners of America tell Gov. Scott to hold firm on Stand Your Ground

Florida's controversial Stand Your Ground law is under attack, and a 19-member task force is gearing up to potentially do great bodily harm to the very core of the statute. They could even kill it.

Sensing this grave threat, Gun Owners of America is firing back, shooting off a petition to Gov. Rick Scott telling him not to repeal the law.

Gun Owners of America, a D.C.-based pro-Second Amendment lobbying group not affiliated with the NRA, is circulating a petition to its 300,000 members, targeting Scott.

"The anti-gun voices within the taskforce are certain to call at least for a repeal of the Stand Your Ground law, the Castle Doctrine law, and maybe even the state’s concealed carry law," the lead-in to the GOA petition states. "Even if you don’t live in Florida, please sign the petition below."

Unfortunately, the Washington-based group's petition has several mischaracterizations about Florida, its crime statistics and the history of the Stand Your Ground law.

We'll break down a few of them here, and post the full petition below.

Scott names two new members to task force to look at Stand Your Ground, public safety

Gov. Rick Scott has added two members to the task force that will review the state's controversial Stand Your Ground law, and other safety issues.

Scott, along with Attorney General Pam Bondi, selected Sheriff Jerry Demings, of Orange County and Chief David L. Perry, the chief of Florida State University Police Department.

Some are crying foul over the makeup of the 19-member task force, which includes several gun-friendly legislators and two of the lawmakers who helped write the Stand Your Ground law. The chair, Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, is reportedly a member of the National Rifle Association, which helped pass the controversial law at the heart of the Trayvon Martin case.

Here's our story on the task force, which many believe will not be able to produce any meaningful change to an NRA-backed law, given its gun-friendly makeup.

The task force has been criticized not only for a lack of diversity of thought, but also racial and age diversity. A group called the Dream Defenders marched to Scott's office on Friday to protest the lack of young people (specifically young minority males) on a task force created in the wake of the death of a young black teenager.

Both Demings and Perry are black.

Demings has at least once taken on the gun lobby, hiring a lobbyist in 2011 that fought against an NRA-backed "open carry" law. According to the Orlando Sentinel, the lobbyist used drivers license photos of alleged gun-toting motorcycle gang members to fight against the law. The lobbyist was investigated for violating a law that makes it illegal to disclose gun owners' information, and lambasted by NRA's top lobbyist, Marion Hammer. He was later cleared.

Perry has gone up against the NRA as well. In 2011, he opposed an NRA-backed bill that would have allowed guns on the campuses of Florida colleges and universities, including FSU.

"You have young people still learning how to be adults, and unfortunately alcohol and drugs are part of that equation on campus," Perry told the Miami Herald in 2011. "This is a place of learning and nurturing and you shouldn't be put in a position where you feel intimidated by someone walking around with a gun."

Here's the press release from Scott's office:

Governor Scott Names Two to Task Force on Citizen Safety and Protection

Tallahassee, Fla. – Today, in collaboration with Attorney General Pam Bondi, Governor Rick Scott added two members to the Task Force on Citizen Safety and Protection. This action completes the process of naming individuals to the task force.

Sheriff Jerry Demings, of Orlando, is the Sheriff for Orange County.

Chief David L. Perry, of Tallahassee, is the chief of the Florida State University Police Department.

--@ToluseO

Gov. Scott’s public safety task force anchored by gun-friendly lawmakers

Gov. Rick Scott’s new task force on public safety will begin reviewing the state’s controversial Stand Your Ground law in two weeks, but the lawmakers anchoring the group have voting records pocked with support for the law and other controversial gun rights expansions.

Critics of the Republican-leaning group doubt whether it will be able to effect real change. Created in the wake of Trayvon Martin’s shooting death, the group is tasked with reviewing laws and policies that affect public safety.

“We have tapped a diverse and qualified group to carefully review our laws and our policies,” Scott said Thursday, standing next to Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, who will serve as chair. Carroll co-sponsored Stand Your Ground in 2005, and voted for it.

House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, and Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, also helped choose members. Each was a co-sponsor of Stand Your Ground. The elected officials they selected also have their fingerprints on Stand Your Ground and other controversial gun laws.

Read the story here:

 @ToluseO

 

Gov. Scott names 17-member task force to review Stand Your Ground law

Gov. Rick Scott named 17 members of the state’s new Task Force on Citizen Safety and Protection, announcing that the group will begin looking at Florida’s controversial Stand Your Ground law in two weeks. The first meeting will be May 1.

The group includes four lawmakers—including the representative that sponsored Stand Your Ground in 2005 and one who says he helped write it—and several legal and law enforcement professionals.

“We have tapped a diverse and qualified group to carefully review our laws and our policies,” said Scott, standing next to Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, who will chair the task force.

In addition to Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, who sponsored the law, Sen. David Simmons, R-Maitland, Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando and Rep. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, will serve on the task force.

ALEC retreats from push for gun rights in wake of corporate defections

The organization that helped spread Florida’s controversial Stand Your Ground law across the country is halting its push for gun rights in the wake of the national outcry over Trayvon Martin’s shooting death.

The American Legislative Exchange Council said Tuesday that it would shift focus from social to economic issues, abandoning causes like gun rights and voter identification laws.

“Today we are redoubling our efforts on the economic front, a priority that has been the hallmark of our organization for decades,” ALEC national chairman and Indiana state lawmaker David Frizzell said in a statement. “We are eliminating the ALEC Public Safety and Elections task force that dealt with non-economic issues, and reinvesting these resources in the task forces that focus on the economy.”

Sparked by several defections by a number of large companies in recent weeks, ALEC’s announcement signaled a major about-face for an organization that wielded considerable sway in changing the way 25 states deal with deadly encounters and self-defense.

Herald and others sue to open Zimmerman documents

The Miami Herald and other media outlets are asking a judge to unseal court documents in the prosecution of George Zimmerman in Sanford.

In a motion filed Monday, the press asked that a Seminole Circuit Judge reconsider a quickly made decision last week to seal the court file, which in Florida is normally a public record.

In a case that has riveted the nation, Zimmerman is facing a charge of second-degree murder in the Feb. 26 shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teen visiting his father’s girlfriend in a gated Sanford community.

Trayvon, 17, the neighborhood watch volunteer got into a physical confrontation, and Zimmerman shot the teen. Claiming self-defense, Zimmerman was not initially arrested and police cited Florida’s Stand Your Ground law in not charging him. Story here.