Brian Beckmann, a Miami-Dade County fire department captain, has been demoted to firefighter over comments he made on his face-book page about the Trayvon Martin case, including a suggestion that "urban youth" are the products of "failed, sh**bag, ignorant, pathetic, welfare dependent excuses for parents."

He was demoted for stating the truth? :scratch:

What a shame. If in fact the injuries to the shooter are legit it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out exactly how things went down. Good legal shoot from my chair. Unfortunately this will all turn out bad for the innocent shooter. I'd have shot the little _rick too....................

A modern day version of shooting the messenger. Lucky for him the pc patrol is anti-guns.

I don't agree with his demotion or the statement that got him demoted. :naw:

I agree.

It seems to me "trader" knows his parents. When did you meet them. I don't know what happened and will not speculate. In fact most people don't know.

Trader need not know or agree with anyone involved. This is about a measure taken to appease the so-called tolerant left, the big free speech advocates.
BTW, it may have been too general and crudely stated, but there just might also be a grain of truth in the statement. And it applies to more than just inner city kids.

These are the operative words in your statement, IMO. :D

What i would like to know, was the gun in Zimmermans hand before the beating started or after the beating started, To me this will be the key issue of the case. JMO. If someone hit you hard enough to put you down, then jumped on you and started pounding your head in the sidewalk, would it be hard to draw a gun. I thing someone is not telling the truth, but i thing it will come out, the sad part it will make it harder on all people to own a gun, IMO no matter how the outcome Zimmerman was a dumb A&& for fallowing him.

According to Zimmerman, he, as a neighborhood watch leader, was doing his job following Martin because he thought Zimmerman was acting suspiciously. As I understand it when the police told Zimmerman to stop following Martin, he said "OK." But while he was gabbing on the phone he lost sight of Martin & started back to his car or else kept walking trying to find a street sign to tell the police where he last saw Martin. At any rate it appears to me that Martin apparently doubled back & confronted Zimmerman & we all know how that turned out. Frankly, it scares the hell out of me when I think about what almost happened to me in Hot Springs. Almost all the artists drawings you see of suspected convenience store robbery suspects & even the uni-bomber is dressed in a hoodie. I'm telling you, it looks suspicious when you see someone walking around with their hoodie up. I know that is the fashion today, but it still looks suspicious. I have been in business in Mena for over 32 years & if a kid comes in my shop with a hoodie up, it catches my attention & this is in Mena. It might not be right, but that is the way it is. :tired: :dunno:

If I was following someone that looked suspicious to me in the middle of the night, you can bet your ass I'd have my gun out. I used to be a commercial fisherman on the coast & when I got paid late at night after selling my catch for the day, I had my gun in my hand while walking back to my boat on the docks in an unfamiliar port. All the other boat captains did too. :thumb:

Trader what i meant was he should have stated in his truck, In no means am i taking up for the kid, If he was not bothering anybody you cannot fallow a person, that is why the police told him not to fallow him. How somebody is dressed is not a crime, even though it may should be? Mr. Zimmermans life is not better now than it was, his neighborhood is also wrecked. Due to the race baiters. :thumb:

About the gun in hand, if you look back saw a man fallowing you with a gun what would you do. I would ether run like hell, which i cant. lol or double back if i could find a 2 by 4 and split his skull. if i had a gun one of us most likely get shoot. My uncle always told us kids, if you go looking for trouble, you will most likely find it.

Having been part of a neighborhood watch, I know that weapons should not be a part of it. If we saw something suspicious we were instructed to call the police department and not try to apprehend the suspect. The key word is WATCH.
We were encouraged to get to know our neighbors so we knew who belonged there and who didn't. Our particular neighborhood was only 2 blocks from a junior high school and elementary school. There were a lot of kids around so it was important to know who belonged there and who didn't.
I wasn't in Sanford that night so I don't know what actually happened but my kids were instructed not to talk to strangers and to get away fast.
We also had block homes where kids could run to if approached by a stranger on their way home from school (they either walked to and from school or their parents drove them) and the adult there was to call their parents and/or the police. Ah, but that was a different time wasn't it.

Cat you are on the money, thats why permit to carry a gun is called concealed, meaning keep out of sight. I dont thing anybody knows what happened, :thumb: