POSTER BOY FOR GUN CONTROL

Michael Dunn, convicted on three counts of attempted murder, damages efforts to preserve our Second Amendment rights

On November 23, 2012, Michael Dunn, 47 and his fiancée stopped at a gas station convenience store in Orange Park, Florida so that she could buy some wine and chips. Dunn, a white computer programmer and software developer, parked his car next to an SUV with four black teenagers who were playing loud rap music. Dunn got out of his car, went over to the SUV, and told the boys to turn down the music. An argument ensued and Dunn pulled out his pistol, firing 10 rounds into the SUV, killing Jordan Davis, 17, a boy with no police record.

Dunn claimed that Davis, who was sitting in a rear passenger seat, pointed a shotgun at him and he only fired his gun in self-defense. However, the cops found no gun of any kind in or near the SUV.

After 32 hours of deliberations, a Jacksonville jury Saturday found Dunn guilty on three counts of second-degree attempted murder and one count of shooting or throwing a deadly missile. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on a murder charge. The judge declared a mistrial on the first-degree murder charge and the prosecutors vowed to retry Dunn for murdering Davis.

Each attempted murder conviction mandates a 60-year prison term and the court could order the terms to be served consecutively. The missile charge carries a term of up to 15 years in prison. At 47, Dunn has effectively been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

This is no George Zimmerman-Trayvon Martin case. Although both jerks would have avoided those deadly confrontations by staying in their cars, that's where any similarity ends. Martin was a thug, Davis seems to have been a clean-cut kid. Martin was ambling along at night in a predominantly white neighborhood plagued by burglaries, Davis was just sitting in a car listening to rap music. Zimmerman was a neighborhood watch volunteer, Dunn was just a jerk annoyed by loud music. Anyone with half a brain would have known that confronting four teenagers over some loud music was just asking for trouble.

How did Dunn ever get a concealed carry permit in the first place? He was not just an ordinary computer nerd. While awaiting trial, Dunn sent his daughter a letter from jail in which he wrote that more people should arm themselves and kill blacks and Hispanics because that might get them to change their ‘thuggish’ behavior. And during a police interview, Dunn’s Port St. Lucie next door neighbor Charles Hendrix said Dunn threatened to kill his two ex-wives. Hendrix said he personally witnessed Dunn bullying and beating the two women, causing them to be in fear of their lives. He also said the second wife told him Dunn held a gun to her head and that he had forced her to have sex with strangers at a Fort Lauderdale swingers club just two days after they were married.

I wonder if Zimmerman would have had the guts to get out of his car if he had not been armed? Would Curtis Reeves, the retired Florida cop who killed a man in a movie theater during an argument over texting, have confronted his victim if he had not been armed? And would Dunn have gotten out of his car to tell four teenagers to turn down the music if he had not been armed?

Dunn is an even bigger jerk than Zimmerman. He deserves to spend the rest of his life behind bars. Dunn is a poster boy for gun control. Once again the anti-gunners and many supporters of our right to bear arms are demanding that the 'stand-your-ground' laws of Florida and 21 other states be repealed. Jerks like Dunn and Curtis Reeves not only call into question why civilians should be issued concealed carry permits, but they also damage efforts to preserve our Second Amendment rights.