The tragic killing of 17-year-old Florida youth Trayvon Martin has captured America's heart and reignited the debate on racial discrimination, but it hasn't created another push for gun control.

Yet, almost drowned out by rhetoric of civil rights leaders such as Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson has been the plight of another black Florida teenager now on trial for shooting to death two white British tourists who simply wandered into the wrong neighbourhood.

The fact is racism has two sides. It can arguably be stated in the UK and in America, there now is just as much overt racist sentiment and actions from certain minorities against the majority populations.

Yet, in the good old USA two factors unite both these tragedies... the availability and use of guns and victims being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The murder trial of Shawn Tyson is in its second week. Tyson, who's 17, is accused of shooting to death two Brits James Kouzaris, 24 and James Cooper, 25, in April of 2011 and could face life in prison if convicted.

On Monday, one of Tyson's friends said the teen shot the men in cold blood even though they pleaded for their lives, claiming to be lost in a Sarasota, Florida slum area.

Trayvon Martin had the misfortune to tangle with an obsessive Neighborhood Watch volunteer carrying a gun and bad feelings about black kids wearing hooded sweatshirts in an upscale area.

But, Trayvon would be alive today if George Zimmerman didn't have the access to a gun and the right to use it.

By the way people such as Zimmerman read the law, any person taking a swing at you is threatening enough to be shot. This idea seems to be taken from any number of second rate cowboy movies.

The unlucky British pair would be alive today if a Sarasota slum kid had only a Playstation with which to shoot things instead of a real revolver, which to him may have been nothing more than a toy to impress his peers.

Many major American cities, as with some Third World urban sprawls, have what are termed 'no go areas'. But generally these are slums where either being white or in the wrong gang could get you killed. That's was the fate of the UK pair.

The Martin death is a rare instance of a black person being killed for simply being in an upscale area. From what we know he wasn't doing anything wrong, just being there.

Unfortunately also there was a man with a gun and the right to use it, according to Florida law, and Martin became one more statistic added to the 30,000 gun deaths in the US last year.

Yet, outrages such as these cause momentary soul searching, cries of racism and calls for strict gun control.

At least the families of the British men may get some closure from the trial. However, the Martin family is heartbroken and shocked in how their son, just out to buy some snacks, could be killed and with no one being charged with any crime...

In the end the cries and accusations will fade away until the next outrage that captures public attention... just look at last year's Tucson massacre.

But one edifice remains supreme and untouchable... America's National Rifle Association which for generations has successfully lobbied against tough gun control.

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