Fact: It’s entirely possible to draw a gun while being full mounted.
One of the recent argument regarding the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman trial is the claim that George Zimmerman would not have been able to grab his gun with Martin on top of him in a full mount. The suggestion here is that Zimmerman must therefore have lied (leading to the conclusion that the shooting was not done in self defense).
First off, it should be noted that and that:
- At least one witness testified that Martin was on top of Zimmerman grounding and pounding him
- Renowned pathologist Dr. Vincent DiMaio has confirmed that Trayvon Martin was shot from below.
The argument that it would have been impossible for Zimmerman to draw a gun with Martin with a full mount on him has been put forth (incorrectly) by an alleged martial arts expert. This is simply incorrect and the full mount position assumed by this claim is not the only version of a full mount that Trayvon Martin could have used. Anyone familiar with grappling from the bottom position knows that there are a number of transitions from the mounted position which allows for enough range of motion to reach for a gun. That Zimmerman had some training in MMA suggests he may have at least been knowledgeable enough to obtain such a position.
Even without knowledge of defense/escapes from the full mount, the sort of full mount the defense claims Martin had, would have given Zimmerman room to reach for his gun.
The screenshot above was taken from this animation.
