Man takes out gun to stop students from entering apartment building

[SummerMadness]

White man takes out gun to stop black students from entering apartment building

A video of a tense encounter between four black students and a white man in Florida has prompted a police investigation after it went viral on Twitter.

The video, posted by one of the students of Florida A&M University, Isiah Butterfield, shows the man holding a gun and using his body to prevent the students from entering the building of a student housing complex on Saturday. The video has been viewed more than 320,000 times on Twitter.

In another episode of living while black, a self-deputized elevator monitor who is not a resident of the building pulled a gun to prevent students from entering housing for students. It is clear the gun was meant to escalate the situation to justify its usage, the real culprit are these stand your ground laws that gives individuals like this the power to pull the trigger then claim he was fearful for his life. All the logic of why he is preventing students from entering student housing goes out the door with such reprehensible laws.

 

[Hammster]

The good thing is that it was only Butterfield’s first encounter with racism. After all of the threads pointing out how racist this nation is, you’d think it would be an everyday encounter.

 

[dgiharris]

The good thing is that it was only Butterfield’s first encounter with racism. After all of the threads pointing out how racist this nation is, you’d think it would be an everyday encounter.

How did you get that it was his only encounter with racism?

The only comment I saw was

"...We are sick of the discrimination," said Butterfield in the tweet. "Never thought I’d have a personal experience with racism like this..."

that is not the same as saying this was his first experience with racism. It is his first experience with racism to THIS DEGREE-- i.e. having a gun pulled on you because you are black. You must admit, that is a pretty extreme form of racism.

sad to say, racism does happen all the time. Most of us have just gotten used to it.

I will admit though that racism is much better today than 60 years ago. however, it seems to be undergoing a resurgence which is sad to see.

 

[Hammster]

How did you get that it was his only encounter with racism?

The only comment I saw was

"...We are sick of the discrimination," said Butterfield in the tweet. "Never thought I’d have a personal experience with racism like this..."

that is not the same as saying this was his first experience with racism. It is his first experience with racism to THIS DEGREE-- i.e. having a gun pulled on you because you are black. You must admit, that is a pretty extreme form of racism.

sad to say, racism does happen all the time. Most of us have just gotten used to it.

I will admit though that racism is much better today than 60 years ago. however, it seems to be undergoing a resurgence which is sad to see.

I don’t think it’s a resurgence as much as everything gets reported, and minor things get blown out of proportion.

I’m not saying this is one of those times, though.

And you could be right about his statement.

 

[dgiharris]

I don’t think it’s a resurgence as much as everything gets reported, and minor things get blown out of proportion..

The thing that hurts race relations the most is when minor things get blown out of proportion. I will readily admit that happens.

And when that happens, it hurts the "legitimate" claims of racism that occurs.

 

[Hammster]

The thing that hurts race relations the most is when minor things get blown out of proportion. I will readily admit that happens.

And when that happens, it hurts the "legitimate" claims of racism that occurs.

I agree.

 

[Hank77]

It is clear the gun was meant to escalate the situation to justify its usage, the real culprit are these stand your ground laws that gives individuals like this the power to pull the trigger then claim he was fearful for his life. All the logic of why he is preventing students from entering student housing goes out the door with such reprehensible laws.

Can you point me to an example where this has happened that was not on/in someone's private property?

 

[DaisyDay]

Can you point me to an example where this has happened that was not on/in someone's private property?

The example in the OP. It was private property, but it wasn't the gunman's - he didn't live there or belong there, he was a hotel manager somewhere else. This was student housing that these students were visiting by permission of one of the residents.

Does the Walmart parking lot count as private property for your purposes? It's someone's property, but not the shooter's.

 

[Hank77]

The example in the OP. It was private property, but it wasn't the gunman's - he didn't live there or belong there, he was a hotel manager somewhere else. This was student housing that these students were visiting by permission of one of the residents.

Does the Walmart parking lot count as private property for your purposes? It's someone's property, but not the shooter's.

What I'm addressing is the 'stand your ground' law as ever protected someone from being charged with a crime.
It seems to me that shootings at happen outside/off the private property of the person with the gun, receive a lot more scrutiny.
This guy had no authority on this property. If he pulled a gun on these kids it would be much for difficult for him to prove he had just cause to fire on them.

Do you know of a case, where because of the 'stand your ground' law, someone got away with shooting someone else in a scenario such as the one in this article?

 

[ThatRobGuy]

I don't necessarily demonize "stand your ground" laws in all cases.

Personally speaking, if I'm carrying, and someone wants to try to rob me at knife point, or is trying to force their way into my vehicle...I don't really have any intentions of running away or forking over my hard earned cash in the name of civility or "not escalation the situation". In those cases, I see no problem with a person standing their ground and defending themselves and their property.

The real issue is with the cowboys who intentionally go out looking for a confrontation to get into because their gun makes them feel like superman. (IE: Zimmerman)

As long as people would follow the rule "I won't get myself into any situation with my gun, that I wouldn't get into without my gun", stand-your-ground laws would be just fine.

It does sound like this guy was in the "cowboy" category...which is why I, as a gun/ccw/stand one's ground advocate am 100% in favor of mental health screening and stricter regulations as part of the gun purchasing process. Most states are far too lax and just about anyone who can pass a simple multiple choice test gets to carry...in some states like PA, it's a mail-in process. That's far too lax...like Sam Harris said, I'm okay with people owning whatever types of guns they like and carrying them, but getting a gun license should be like getting a pilot's license...whereas it's currently like getting a fishing license.

 

[dgiharris]

What I'm addressing is the 'stand your ground' law as ever protected someone from being charged with a crime.
It seems to me that shootings at happen outside/off the private property of the person with the gun, receive a lot more scrutiny.
This guy had no authority on this property. If he pulled a gun on these kids it would be much for difficult for him to prove he had just cause to fire on them.

Do you know of a case, where because of the 'stand your ground' law, someone got away with shooting someone else in a scenario such as the one in this article?

I was pretty sure that the Stand Your Ground Law was how George Zimmerman was able to shoot Trayvon Martin despite calling the police dispatch and the police dispatch telling him not to engage and to wait for the police...

 

[Hank77]

I was pretty sure that the Stand Your Ground Law was how George Zimmerman was able to shoot Trayvon Martin despite calling the police dispatch and the police dispatch telling him not to engage and to wait for the police...

He got away with it because he had physical wounds that backed up his description of what happened. He was acquitted by claiming 'self-defense' and the 'stand your ground' law was never invoked in his defense.

George Zimmerman, set to stand trial in the 2012 shooting death of teenager Trayvon Martin, on Tuesday waived his right to a "stand your ground" pretrial immunity hearing. Zimmerman's attorneys have decided they will try this as a self-defense case.
https://www.cnn.com/2013/04/30/justice/florida-zimmerman-defense/index.html

Could the guy in the OP have been arrested for blocking the doorway? I believe he could have been. If so, he was breaking the law. The 'stand your ground' law does not apply in cases where someone is breaking the law.
In some states the rule is that one must try to retreat, if they are able, before making a stand.