The verdict – in my opinion – was legally correct.

But justice was not done.

Stepping back a few steps from all the public commentary and media punditry surrounding the George Zimmerman case, we are still left with one indisputable fact: a 17-year old boy is dead and the person who shot him has not been held accountable. If the boy was my son, you can bet I’d be screaming in protest and organizing whatever kind of movement is necessary to try to win him justice.

Legal analysts say the State of Florida overcharged the case. Both third degree murder and manslaughter required finding that Zimmerman intended to kill Trayvon. Absent any evidence that the man truly intended to commit murder, I accept the jury finding of “not guilty”. I just wish there had been some other charge that identified Zimmerman’s actions as utterly reckless and held him accountable for the tragic result of that recklessness.

After a church shooting a few years ago in Knoxville, Tennessee, I attended a forum about security issues affecting churches. Many congregations have adopted measures designed to keep their members safe, including locking outside doors in wings where children are, and having patrols in parking lots during services to prevent car break-ins.

One of the attendees asked a local police chief if he thought churches should develop armed security teams. The chief answered wisely, telling the group that police officers are highly trained to use firearms in the line of duty. But when your heart is beating a million times a minute, adrenaline is rushing and you can’t even breathe, even the most well-trained officer has a hard time hitting a legitimate target. Imagine if it was one of your deacons who used a weapon in church, the police chief said. “How many choir members do you think he’d kill before he ever got the perpetrator?”

And right there is a key question that should be asked and answered in the Trayvon Martin case.

“What the hell was a Neighborhood Watch volunteer doing packing heat?”

When George Zimmerman strapped on his 9-millimeter that night nothing good was going to come of it. I don’t care if the man was confronted by a frightened (and probably angry) Trayvon. The presence of a loaded weapon in any kind of tense situation exacerbated the likelihood of something bad happening. If there was no gun, we would not be where we are today.

When people exercise their 2nd amendment rights the very first thing they should be made aware of is that if they ever point that gun and shoot it at another person, they are going to be in the deepest shit they’ve ever imagined. The burden of proof should never be on the person who was shot.

The burden of proof should always be on the shooter.

Having said all that, I want to share a thought about the racial dimension. In a nation where black people have been routinely profiled and treated unjustly, it should not surprise anyone that many people decry Trayvon’s murder as an act of racial hatred. Whether it was or not we may never know. But those who have themselves experienced profiling and unjust accusation have every right to protest and raise the issue.

And we in the white community have to seriously ask if this sad tragedy would have turned out the same way if the kid in the hoodie was white.