Up front you should know I call them all “guns”. A “clip” and a “magazine” kind of register as two different things with me, but the reason to differentiate is needless since I wouldn’t have either in my home, let alone the “gun” they attach to. I’m not comfortable with “guns”.

The George Zimmerman self-defense trial verdict, too, left me uncomfortable. That he is “not guilty”, an attorney will tell you, doesn’t mean he is “innocent”. The distinction is much more important than that between a “clip” and a “magazine”.

George Zimmerman shot a 17-year-old kid in the heart. He isn’t “innocent”, no matter how “not guilty” he might be in Florida, a state with its NRA-friendly “stand your ground” law. To Zimmerman’s credit, he confessed to the killing. It seems he gets a free notch on his pistol grip and accolades from the “stand your ground” folks. Trayvon gets nothing, though, arguably, he was defending himself, too, against a stranger stalking him in the dark.

The trial is over. I hope, in my life time, that America wakes up and a kid can leave his father’s home to buy Skittles and a can of iced tea yet make it back alive. I pray with Trayvon’s family for at least that much.