Guns Returned to Blind Man Acquitted of Fatally Shooting Friend

Welcome to Florida, where a legally blind man can not only own a gun but be acquitted for shooting and killing a friend after hours of drinking together, and then get his gun back. John Wayne Rogers—who reportedly went to jail in 2011 for punching a woman and was on probation the year before that for shooting 15 rounds at a cousin—spent two years behind bars for fatally shooting a friend at his home in Geneva, Florida in 2012 before he was acquitted in January thanks to Florida’s notorious “stand your ground” law. Claiming that he needs his guns for protection, Rogers argued that it’s his constitutional right to have the 10mm Glock and rifle that were confiscated when he was arrested returned to him. He didn’t want to do it, but Judge John Galluzzo conceded saying, “I have to return property that was taken under the circumstances. I have researched and I haven’t found case law to say otherwise.”