The President of the United States used the Zimmerman “not guilty” verdict as an occasion to implore the American people to ask “ourselves if we’re doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence.” While the Senate Minority Leader, Sen. Harry Reid (D) Nevada, said the President should  weigh in on the Zimmerman verdict, and that the Justice Department should “take a look at this.”

Zimmerman was acquitted by a jury of his peers, despite huge pressure (and even threats) from the media, politicians, actors, etc. Yet he will now, apparently, be “retried” by a jury of the Left. The President has never shied away from sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong, where local legal matters are concerned. In this case,  immediately following the Martin shooting, he said, “if I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.” Without even getting into the fairytale picture of Martin that was painted for us by a mainstream media obsessed with race, and how that “picture” conflicts with more recent photos and descriptions of him, this was a stunning and shameful intervention by the President of the United States, in an attempt to influence a jury. Yet his actions bore no fruit. Justice prevailed.

Despite presidential interference, threats of violence, and unprecedented pressure by the Justice Department, the jury found Zimmerman not guilty. That’s because, when the available evidence was presented, this was a case of self-defense. Obama and others can wish it weren’t so, but that doesn’t change the facts. For the President to then use this as an occasion to ask what more we can do to “stem the tide of gun violence” is preposterous. It shows how little regard he has for both our system of justice and the Second Amendment to our Constitution. This wasn’t a case of “gun violence,” except under the warped definition used by people like Mayor Bloomberg – who considers the Boston Marathon Bombing suspects victims of “gun violence,” as well. Rather, this was self-defense.

Then we have Sen. Harry Reid, who’s been known to make some of the more bizarre statements and accusations this side of Joe Biden. Reid is all in favor of the President “weighing in” on this. I have a question: Should the President weigh in on EVERY court case before EVERY court in the land? If not, why pick and choose? Is he not playing politics with defendant’s lives by doing so? Of course he is. Does the President not have an unique amount of influence over the media, judges, and juries? Of course he does. And he should be ashamed of himself for butting in on the Zimmerman case.

Reid also wants the Justice Department to “look into this.” Perhaps the same way the IRS and NSA have “looked into” groups and people whose agendas they don’t agree with? The Senator wants to put the power of the Federal Government behind this, AFTER Zimmerman has been acquitted. Disgusting. But what else should we expect from a man who made the baseless and absurd accusation last year that Mitt Romney hadn’t paid taxes in ten years, and who called sitting President George W. Bush a “loser?”

What the President and Minority Leader have done is shameful, but not surprising, based on their track records. But we shouldn’t give them a pass and we shouldn’t be intimidated by threats of violence from within our communities. We all have a right to defend our communities, our neighborhoods, our homes, and ourselves. And we have a right to do so without being intimidated by the most powerful politicians in the United States.

The President’s and Senator’s attempt to influence our system of justice is yet another reason to not allow them to accrue such power in the first place.