Last updated on February 7th, 2013 at 05:39 pm
They are either grasping for straws or it may be true, but attorneys for a man who shot and killed a teenager in a small town in Florida may use Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) as a defense if the the grand jury finds that the adult did in fact break the law and use Stand Your Ground inappropriately.
According to George Zimmerman’s attorney, Hal Ulrig, and a former police officer, he compared what happened to Zimmerman after Travon Martin bashed Zimmerman’s head into the concrete may be comparable to that of SBS. Yet according to the National Institute of Health, SBS’ symptoms:
In comparison with accidental traumatic brain injury in infants, shaken baby injuries have a much worse prognosis. Damage to the retina of the eye can cause blindness. The majority of infants who survive severe shaking will have some form of neurological or mental disability, such as cerebral palsy or mental retardation, which may not be fully apparent before 6 years of age. Children with shaken baby syndrome may require lifelong medical care.
Therefore, if Ulrig is going to use the SBS defense, does it mean his parents abused him as a child and cannot be held accountable, or is the attorney claiming that the head-bashing by Martin caused the SBS in Zimmerman. Or in either case, does Zimmerman, though not arrested still have right to carry his firearm? Federal law states that you cannot own a firearm if you are a convicted felon, convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence or if a judge orders a person to seek mental therapy against the will of the person.
Currently, Zimmerman does not fall into any of the categories, but a Federal Firearm License dealer is questioning whether he would sell a firearm to Zimmerman. The dealer said that if a person is first of all is mentally challenged but passes the basic firearm test, he would have no real problem selling a firearm, so long as they pass the test and the background check and sign for the DROS (Dealer Record Of Sales). Yet if Zimmerman were to come into the dealer’s store wishing to buy a firearm, he might have second thoughts.
The dealer explained that just because Zimmerman may not have been convicted, dealers would still fear that he may have the propensity for violence and they may not wish to sell to him…convicted or not. They would rather err on the side of caution.
Florida laws, according to the dealer, tend to be a lot more relaxed than California and unlike Florida, it takes a lot more to justify getting a concealed permit or to buy a firearm than it does in the Sunshine State. The dealer finally said that he would not want to lose his license just because he wants to make a buck. To him, the sale wasn’t worth risking a lawsuit.
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