America the beautiful was tarnished once again last week when a teenager Trayvon Martin walking home from a corner store with Skittles in his hand and wearing a hoodie, was shot dead after pleading for his life. George Zimmerman a neighbourhood watchman, who on many previous occasions, called police regularly, as if he actually believed he was fighting crime. His 911 voice recording directly reflected his views. With Police having little evidence to believe his version of events, no charges were laid. People all over the States organized themselves to protest and demand justice in this cold blooded travesty. If you saw his parents, you couldn’t help but feel their pain. A few years back, I visited Florida with my cousin as we decided to do a few things we never experienced before and one was shooting a gun at a gun range. After accidentally firing the jammed Glock toward the  open range and almost shooting my cousin, I was afraid to shoot again thinking of ‘what if’…; If you saw the individuals who were at the gun range you would never suspect them of even having a gun or being ‘packed’. Yet in Florida, as in many other States, it is their Constitutional right to ‘bear arms’. The Gun Lobby, which was once headed by the late, Charleston Heston, who ironically played Moses in the ‘Ten Commandments’, continues to be a formidable proponent for the ‘right to bear arms’. Unfortunately what was logical for the 17th century cannot be realistic for the 21st century. With an explosion in Population and Urban Centers, more and more people interact in tighter boundaries. As a result more confrontations will flare up and arguments ending in violence more common. How many blessings can God bestow on America, if the country continues to take for granted a standard of living  idolized by billions around the world? Hopefully through this tragedy meaningful change will finally come to America for the benefit of all its’ citizens. These draconian liberties need to be cast aside for common sense solutions brought on by a true leader; the election is in November who will have the balls?

Sincerely-Philip Magnoli, my friends call me Don Filippo