Random thoughts from flyover country

Tuesday, July 2

Michael Savage doesn't get to invent his own facts

I am not a big fan of Michael Savage, but the radio was on the station that carries his program when I went to the store. Savage was having a rather hostile discussion with a caller about the George Zimmerman murder trial and was going on and on about how Zimmerman was carrying a cocked gun with a round in the chamber with the safety off. He was apparently using these "facts" in an attempt to prove that Zimmerman intended to kill someone the night Trayvon Martin died.

Sorry, Savage, but you're not only off base, but you're wrong. Your "facts" are fiction.

First, you're wrong about a pistol carried with a round in the chamber being indicative of intent to kill, because police officers carry their pistols with loaded chambers. Is it your contention that the police carry chamber-loaded handguns because they intend to kill someone? If that were the case, don't you think that there would be a lot more police-involved shootings than there are?

Secondly, you're wrong because the pistol that George Zimmerman used that night was a nine millimeter Kel-Tec P-11 semiautomatic. You claimed that he was carrying this pistol cocked with the safety off, didn't you? Well, there's a problem with that: The Kel-Tec P-11 is double action only (DAO) so it cannot be cocked and it doesn't have a safety. Essentially, Savage, the pistol George Zimmerman was carrying that night was just like a double action revolver except it holds more ammunition. It has a long, relatively heavy trigger pull that takes a very deliberate pull on the trigger to fire it.

Then you described George Zimmerman as "a hulking man." Okay, maybe I'm a bit biased here because reports of Zimmerman's height and weight at the time of Trayvon Martin's death as 5'7" to 5'8" and 185 to 200 pounds. If that describes a "hulking man" then I must be the Incredible Hulk.

How about we wait until the trial is over to find out if the prosecution proved Zimmerman guilty beyond a reason, Savage?

ECS