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“We’ve got to get the gun out of the hands of people who are supposed to be on neighborhood watch. Without a gun, I don’t see Mr. Zimmerman approaching Trayvon by himself. The power-of-the-gun mentality had him unafraid to confront someone. Even police call for backup in similar situations. When you carry a gun, you mean to harm somebody, kill somebody.”- Bill Cosby

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49 COMMENTS

    • Well, I, for one, will certainly not be among “neighborhood watchers” if I have to be unarmed, since I am never unarmed. There are those who really think a neighborhood watch is necessary, and I think they should make their own rules, regardless of what Bill Cosby, one of my favorite people, has to say on the subject.

  1. So all of those hundreds of thousands of law-abiding licenced citizens carrying guns have all been out to kill somebody? Hmm, so why hasn’t that actually happened, Billy boy? Maybe you should just stick to your comedy routines.

  2. I really do not want to come across as an insensitive prick, but there’s just no gentle way to formulate this:

    Had your son carried a gun that night, he might still be alive today, Mr. Cosby.

  3. I have to agree with Mr. Cosby on this. Mr. Zimmerman acted badly. Can’t put it any other way. Tactically he was off the mark by a lot. He had not formal training as far as I know, and wasn’t even an official neighborhood watch person. If he had they would have told him don’t patrol with a gun. He felt emboldened to go into a situation that was beyond his training.
    Heck we complain all the time about how badly trained cops are. I wouldn’t have expected Mr. Zimmerman to be any better. I spent 5+ years in the army and I still have a ton to learn. I still need refreshing on basic things as we all do.
    Situational awareness and surveillance are not easy to do and he failed at both.

    • Uhm, Zimmerman was appointed the neighborhood watch coordinator by the homeowners association. Also, Sanford Police volunteer program coordinator Wendy Dorival told the Miami Herald she met Zimmerman in September, 2011 at a community neighborhood watch presentation. Dorival stated she gave a warning in regard to vigilante behavior at that meeting: “I said, ‘If it’s someone you don’t recognize, call us. We’ll figure it out,’ ” Dorival said. “‘Observe from a safe location.’ There’s even a slide about not being vigilante police. I don’t know how many more times I can repeat it.”
      My recommendation: consult wikipedia before posting.

  4. With the risk of getting flamed I happen to agree with Cosby that a neighborhood watchman is more likely to do something stupid because his armed. There is a difference between carrying for personal protection and seeking out and identifying potential bad guys. I have to wonder whether Zimmerman would have gotten out his car had he not been armed. He does seem like person with hero complex who might have done it anyway but you never know.

    The role of the neighborhood watch is to observe and report not confront anyone. You can conduct surveillance without even being Ided by the potential bad guy(s). It doesn’t take a lot of training to do this especially since you probably aren’t tracking your neighborhood FSB guy or the local hit man.

    • I do have to call B.S. on this one.

      During our city’s crime wave, the neighborhood watches chose to carry because it was that bad. Neighborhood patrols were also targeted during those times. This is a hippy city, so it was a stretch for some, but they made that decision to carry. We also live in an open carry state. This was a great deterrent for those wanting to harm the neighborhood patrol (which included nearly every sex and color we have here.)

      And no one went ‘Rambo’ and crime went way, way down for a long while.

      No one did what Zimmerman did (which we still don’t know enough about, even though we know more this week). I know of no responsible gun owning human being that doesn’t dread ‘crossing the Rubicon’ and taking a life.

      Cosby’s problem is that he, like Obama, fails to really speak for most of the African American community because they are so far removed from ‘black reality’.

      As a veteran infantryman, having a gun doesn’t decrease the fear factor – at all – Crosby is being idiotic here. While very sad he lost his son, the point is that his son probably didn’t grow up in an environment were situational awareness was taught .

      The overall problem isn’t an armed watch (hell, we used to call those colonial militias), it’s the statist attitude that Zimmerman may or may not have had the night this happened. I know of plenty of self empowered idiots, one who recently killed three people without a gun, who don’t need a firearm to act like a Neanderthal.

      It’s people, people are stupid sometimes – cave rock or glock.

      • The situation in your neighborhood is clearly differnet from Zimmerman’s. While there is crime in the development there are no reports that anybody was targeting the watch.

        I could have trailed Martin without him ever knowing it. It is simply my opinion that Zimmerman did some stupid things because his weapon made him feel invincible. As soon as he lost sight of Martin he should have crossed the street, moved to the shadows and continue back to his car without doubling back on the route.

        This is not my general opinion of people who do neighborhood watches whether they carry or not. I still think that had he not been armed he probably would not have gone running off into the night in search of someone who might be a dangerous felon.

        • Uh, Martin did not have a problem attacking someone (not just following), despite being unarmed. I suspect you’re projecting, just because you have more sense, that others will, too.

  5. Do I intend to hurt someone or kill them? I do intend to stop someone. Anyone who tries to hurt me or my family.

    That aside, Zimmerman acted without a lot of reason. Did he want to be a cop or a security guard? I mean WTF was he doing?

    I think the neighborhood watch issue ie totally separate from the CC issue.

    • Nah, he’s far from a racist. I met the guy a couple of times when we shared the same hobby and found him to be a gentleman and a gentle man. He also tore his own peeps a series of new recti for placing matters of the flesh over education. Cosby played around a little, too, but he also earned a PhD from UMass in 1976.

      Cosby is one of the better people around. I think he’s wrong about this, but that doesn’t make him a racist.

    • I’ll second Cosby not being anything resembling a racist. He’s said a number of honest and insightful things the black community has plugged up their ears at, or yelled about in outrage that needed to be said.

      His opinion may be that guns are for killing, and he may hold that opinion openly. I would try to convince him otherwise if I ever got the chance to talk with him, but I can see how he would form that impression.

      • Particularly since he has always been concerned about his race. I mean, we all know MOST firearm crime is black-on-black, despite their being a small minority. His involvement has always been top notch insofar as I have seen. He’s still wrong, here.

  6. “Without a gun, I don’t see Mr. Zimmerman approaching Trayvon by himself.”

    How about: “Without a gun, I don’t see Mr. Zimmerman defending himself from Trayvon’s ambush after nobody answered his cries for help”?

    That’s just as valid a view of the incident, given the present state of “facts” available to the public, as the Gospel according to Saint Bill

      • In the event you’re serious (how can anyone not know?), Zimmerman was following Martin because he was suspicious, Martin attacked him and Zimmerman defended himself. If Zimmerman had minded his own business, nothing would have happened (Martin was doing nothing wrong until he attacked Zimmerman). If Martin had been taught to not throw the first punch, nothing would have happened.

  7. “We’ve got to get the fear of the gun into the heads of people who prey on the innocent. Without that fear, criminals don’t hesitate in approaching Mr. Zimmerman by themselves. The power-of-the-gun-control mentality makes them think they are the ones with a monopoly on force. Even police are not a deterrent in these situations. When you carry a gun, you have the means to defend yourself, and your family.”

  8. There is no organized neighborhood watch where I live. If having one means I have to go about my daily routine unarmed, I see zero advantage to having one.

    I do not fault Mr.Zimmerman for trailing a suspicious person, only that he did it badly. There is plenty of good reason to track a suspicious person who may not only steal, but do harm to one of my neighbors.

  9. “The gun is the great equalizer… For it is the gun, that allows the meek to repel the monsters; Whom are bigger, stronger and without conscience, prey on those who without one, would surely perish.”

  10. When you carry a gun, you mean to harm somebody, kill somebody.”
    Well, maybe while I am defending myself against the Perp BG trying to off me.

  11. “When you carry a gun, you mean to harm somebody, kill somebody.”

    Maybe you do, Uncle Bill, but that mind set doesn’t apply to me and I would appreciate it if you didn’t attempt to transfer your insecurities and self doubts to me. If you don’t believe that you can carry arms without looking for somebody to kill or injure you probably shouldn’t carry.

    I carry for the same reason that I own fire extinguishers and wear seat belts. I’m not looking for a fire or a wreck but I intend to survive either.

    [W3]

  12. Neighborhoods can saturate themselves with security cameras (mounted in many places) that are all linked together and monitored from the homes of the watch patrol volunteers. Mobile cars with multiple cameras rolling can add to the data flow and be fed into the live feed on the computer screens of the watch patrols in their homes. To add to the fun (and confusion) miniature hobby aircraft can be fitted with cameras too. If neighborhoods really want to create greater security and lower crime (not eliminate) I think there are ways.

    • But for all that, you would have to be really paranoid and really, REALLY rich, which makes the need for any such rather dubious, in your gated and patrolled community.

  13. Darn. I love Bill Cosby. But a “gun mentality” was not the problem here. As facts stand at the moment, without a gun, Mr. Zimmerman may right now be in a vegetative state after having his head smashed repeatedly to the ground. Martin would be in jail, and none of this would have been national news.

    But this wasn’t the gun’s fault.

  14. “When you carry a gun, you mean to harm somebody, kill somebody.”

    When a person carries a book does that mean the person is insensitive to the environment and hates trees?

  15. First off, if you are going to post, edit what you write, or at least learn the basic principles of english.
    Second, stop placing Zimmerman on public trial. You morons are just giving his attorney ammo to get him off. The argument will go like this: He will ask for a change of venue. Reason; his client will not get a fair and impartial jury in Sanford FL. Not being granted a change of venue, he will then argue for a mistrial. Reason; the court of public opinion has already tried his client, making it impossible for him to recieve fair treatment under the judicial system.

    So keep the trial going and keep running your inept mouths, along with your biggoted attitude. Lets insure that if Zimmerman was guilty, he walks. As it is now, I would support a mistrial due to the mismanaged mouths of all these self appointed jurists. There will be no one to blame but YOU, if he walks with a mistrial.

    • Paul, you may want to consider tightening some of the screws on the top shelf. I think they might have come loose.

    • Man, and I’m often getting the “FLAME DELETED” for making vague generalizations about the views of TTAGers.

      Paul, “English” is a proper noun. Also, I have no idea what your point is, aside from other people (not you) are morons.

  16. Mr. Cosby needs a reality check. Ted Kennedy killed more people with his car, than I have with my licensed, registered, carry firearm(s). Yes B.C. is most definitely a racist. He bought all of the original Little Rascal’s films, and will not allow them to be shown. Reason, he feels that whitey, maligned Buckwheat in these films. It makes no difference to him that white kids were portrayed as stupid, inept, and had fun made of them. Oh no, just one person was truly wronged, Buckwheat. How many white kids do you know that are named Alfalfa? Sounds muslim to me Al-falfa.

    • No…no.. and full of no. Bill does not own the rights to the Our Gang shorts, they have been syndicated FLAME DELETED

  17. if i remember right, mr. cosby is one of the few allowed to carry a handgun in the place he lives in the peoples republic of ca. also wasn’t he say something much different when his son was killed.

  18. Shame, Cosby’s usually pretty sensible.

    I love the Orwellian power of words also…referring to Zimmerman as “Mr. Zimmerman” and Martin as “Trayvon,” meaning to evoke more sympathy for the more identifiable informal first name.

  19. Whoa… Who said Zimmerman was approaching Martin? I see lots of talk about Zimmerman – but as I understand it from the facts presented in the reports, Zimmerman was doing what he was supposed to by keeping Martin under observation – and reporting it to 911. When asked to discontinue following Martin, he did so and was returning to his vehicle when confronted by Martin.

    Martin, on the other hand, disappeared from Zimmerman’s sight, and made the choice to return to confront and attack Zimmerman. His choice got him killed. When he disappeared from Zimmerman’s sight, he could have, and should have kept out of sight and away from Zimmerman, but instead chose to confront him. It was foolish for him (or anyone) to confront a stranger in a strange neighborhood – just as it’s foolish to bring a knife (or a fist) to a gun fight. It was a poor decision on Martin’s part and got him killed.

    While we all feel sorry for Martin, unless there’s a completely different set of facts from the evidence presented so far, Martin brought this on himself. We are all responsible for our own actions, and Martin picked a fight with an armed man. Bad decision.

  20. I agree with Cosby but with a minor correction. “When you carry a gun, you mean to harm somebody, kill somebody.” He should have clarified that he didn’t mean ALL of you who carry guns. The problem is with only SOME of you.

      • EXACTLY where was Mr. Cosby standing when HE NOTICED ZIMMERMAN “APPROACH” MARTIN? I don’t really remember reading about Bill being in the area. Might be wrong! I doubt it!

        Bill stop being a jerk and follow the KNOW facts!

        • Nope sure wasn’t. There was a time when he already was out of his car that the 911 operator said he did not need to do that.

    • Oh you mean those guys who carry guns they are not legally allowed to have, while peddling substances no one is allowed to have. Oh yeah I could see how a new law would make us safe from them

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