[Tyr.]

Dropping the hammer on somebody isn't an act to be taken lightly. Humans are naturally averse to the idea of killing each other.

Compelling somebody to take another's life is difficult. We all (Aside from rare cases, sociopaths etc) have a safety net in our psyche. Let me reiterate - we are naturally averse to taking human life. It's not natural, at all. That's why piranhas fight each other with their tails, not teeth. That's why, during WWI and WWII the vast majority of soldiers either didn't fire their weapons, or fired high. The simple fact is that we don't like killing.

It would take a pretty serious act to force the forebrain into overpowering that built in safety net, and even then it doesn't happen often. Even somebody who is about to be killed might not even fight back, because they are simply so unwilling to kill another person. There has been no shortage of this throughout history. On the other hand, there are aggravating factors. Drugs, alcohol, fear etc. They can all push somebody towards being more willing to kill.

Training, too, can help. Conditioning somebody to kill helps them when the time is right. That is why, when soldiers shoot targets in training they don't shoot bulls-eyes, they shoot human images. Long-term, serious and committed training can overcome that human psyche.

Zimmerman?

Wasn't drunk or high.
Wasn't trained in killing.
Doubt he had prior intent, or why call the Police?

Frankly, I think this guy was actually so damned terrified of Martin, he killed him. That's not a light thing to do. Fuck anybody who thinks that killing somebody is easy. It's not. You either have to be one of the most mentally prepared motherfuckers in the world to pull a gun and blow a guy's chest open, or you have to be under some serious duress. Frankly, I don't think many of the sheltered kids in this thread understand just how bloody serious this is.

I struggle to believe Zimmerman hopped out of his truck because he felt like disrupting his blue collar life by shooting a black man. It doesn't work that way.

- Yogi