Tampa Bay Times reporter Craig Pittman – a native of Floridian – addresses why many people consider the southern sunny state one of America’s most idiosyncratic. Among other topics, he delves into the controversial Stand Your Ground gun-rights law that gained media attention during the trial of George Zimmerman trial.
On the Zimmerman trial – in which the defendant was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter in the 2012 shooting death of Tayvon Martin – and Pittman says
“Using the Stand Your Ground Law, I think that’s how it had to turn out – much to the chagrin of the people watching it outside or Florida. But the jurors said, several of them said, when we looked at the Stand Your Ground law, this was the only outcome we could come up with.”
In terms of the overall gun culture, Pittman says that Florida leads the nation in the number of concealed weapons permits, partly because many people feel they don’t know and can’t trust their neighbors.
“Sometimes the weapon is a machete or Samurai sword, or something exotic like that,” he said. “One of the problems we have in Florida is that people think a gun is a magic wand that can solve all their problems and so they pull one out whenever there’s a dispute.”
In the full interview, Pittman also dicusses the too-close-to-call gubernatorial race between incumbent Rick Scott and Charlie Crist, and the alleged corruption surrounding the state’s powerful sugar industry lobby.
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