Melissa Hartman, mother of the slain 19-year-old man named Xavier Hartman, blames YOU for the death of her son. Yeah, she blames the law-abiding members of America's oldest civil rights organization for her son's violent death in late June in rural Knox County, IL.
As I wrote earlier this week, Xavier Hartman's mother had crafted a sympathetic Facebook presence. In it, she demanded "justice" for her son's death. Understandable. She's a grieving mother who lost her son. At the same time though, some might interpret her demands for justice as really a call for vengeance against James Love.
All that went out the window yesterday when she decided to make it personal against six million actual members of the National Rifle Association. Or the 14 million Americans who perceive themselves as members of the nation's oldest – and largest civil rights organization. 14 million law-abiding people.
Law-abiding. Something Ms. Hartman's son could no longer say about himself as he earned his first adult criminal conviction last year following a felony mob violence arrest. While an arrest and later misdemeanor plea doesn't make him a bad person, it shows poor judgement and a lack of self-control.
The trend continued into this year when mom filed for an emergency order of protection against him. Boy, I'd love to see the written petition on that. I doubt she was mad because he didn't clean his room or bake her some chocolate chip cookies for Valentine's day.
What happened to Ms. Hartman's son is tragic. He should not have died that night. Just as what happened to James Love is tragic.
Even if a judge and jury agree that Mr. Love acted outside the law in defending himself, the only person to blame for the death of Xavier is Mr. Love. Not the 14-plus million law-abiding Americans who perceive themselves as belonging to the NRA.
However, if a judge and/or jury believe Mr. Love was justified in using deadly force to preserve innocent life from a felonious attack, then the only person responsible for Xavier Hartman's death is… Xavier Hartman.
I wrote about the dead "Trayvon Martin 2.0" in the headline because this case is showing remarkable similarities to the Martin case from five or six years ago. Need an example?
The top photo comes from ABC News, the bottom from the Peoria Journal-Star.
So c'mon, Ms. Hartman. Quit blaming the NRA and put the blame where it belongs like a responsible adult. Or at least give the justice system a chance to apply the rule of law to the facts of this case before assigning blame. And then only to the person responsible, and not millions of other Americans.
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