Good thing for us all that black lives matter is an agenda free group that just wants justice.....

Mike was violently pushed to the ground in a blindside attack that he never saw coming. The attacker stopped advancing when he pulled his hanfgun or he probably would have gotten stomped as a result of a jap attack. This was no fair fight...it was a jap blindside attack. Jailyard tactics, get the guy on the ground by blindsiding him and stomp him. The woman probably would have joined in the stomp action. As far as the guy 'retreating' he was backing up to the vehicle, maybe he had a gun in the vehicle. He initiated an very violent blindside attack on an older much physically smaller man. Handgun equalized the fight. Too bad I was not on the jury….

As far as him being convicted do you remember OJ was found not guilty? I guess that means he never killed those people.

How did black lives matter influence the jury?

The judge only passed sentence. The jury saw the idiot who watched the old Michael Douglas movie Falling Down one to many times, for what he was. A guy who thought carrying a gun made him special. He enjoyed confrontations as he now felt confident harassing people. He already had pictures. All he had to do was go to the police station and sign a complaint to get a ticket sent in the mail.

It's no wonder people are so scared of permissionless carry. This guy had permission and was still a nut job. Would really surprise me to find out he had not applied to the local police force for a job and was determined to be psychologically unfit.

Should have got life and the woman who helped escalate it should have gotten the 20 years. All this stupidity played out in front of kids. Any bets on whether any of them grow up to be responsible adults?

Stand your ground is a good legal defense, but it's one that should be decided in court by a jury except in the most obvious cases. This is similar to the trayvon Martin thing; initially there was no investigation there either, and then it turned into a big mess with the guy getting convicted in the court of public opinion unfairly. Had that case gone through an investigation right away and gone to court, it likely never would have made the national news, and it's the same with this. If the sheriff's had sent the case to court to be decided instead of playing judge/jury/trial we'd probably never even know about it.

The sheriff in this case did gun-owners in Florida and across the nation a huge disservice by ignoring what he saw on the video, calling it a justifiable shoot under "Stand Your Ground" and refusing to do any meaningful investigation.

The victim was in retreat and there was no threat to the shooter when he pulled the trigger. As a result of the sheriff's actions Florida's Stand Your Ground law came under intense scrutiny and criticism. Stand Your Ground is not a legal justification to kill someone who hurt your feelings.

I agree with most on here. It was a bad shoot in my opinion. Had the guy that shoved him kept coming at him, I believe it would have been justified. As it happened, the guy had turned around and was no longer a threat. I'm all for self defense and the use of deadly force if (god forbid) it is needed. That being said, it is the very last resort not a "go to". There was plenty of opportunity to deescalate that situation. Carrying a firearm is an awesome responsibility and using it even more so. If you ever have to use one in self defense, a few things will be almost guaranteed,
1. You will probably go to jail. It could be hours or it could be the rest of your life. It all depends on how good the shoot was. Chances are, even if it's a perfectly justified shoot, you'll at least see the inside of county jail until things get sorted out.
2. More than likely you will be sued by the surviving family or the individual that was shot provided they are still alive.
3. You will be paying thousands or even tens of thousands in attorney fees for both criminal and civil actions.
4. You will probably have some PTSD symptoms depending on what happened and you will have to deal with that.
5. It will 100% change your life and probably not for the better.

I guess all that is better than being 6 feet under.

Maybe, maybe not. If the shooter was say 60yo and he does all 20 years, he will be 80 if he lives that long. Health care in prison isn't very good on average so chances are if you have any age on you, a 20 year bit is life. I might rather be 6 feet under than living in a 6'X12' cage the rest of my life surrounded by gang bangers, drug dealers, rapist and other dregs of society. Not really an easy choice and one I hope to never have to deal with.

So if you got a gun and get attacked it might be better just to shoot yourself?-Ejit.

2 idiots one dead the other in jail.

Not what I'm saying...…. Come on now, have some peanut butter, (known as "brain food"), raise your IQ to 60 and try to get with the conversation.

It wasn’t that he had a gun. It wasn’t that he shot him. It was “when” he shot him.