Stand your ground...
http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/20/us/florida-teen-shooting-law/index.html
Having guns makes everyone safer……
A neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, has claimed self-defense in the February 26 shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was killed while walking back to the house of his father's fiancee after a trip to a convenience store. (He was armed with a bag of Skittles)
Florida's "stand your ground" law appears to be central to the case.
The law allows people to use deadly force away from their homes -- where such force has long been allowed -- if they have reasonable fear an assailant could seriously harm them or someone else.
It also eliminates a longstanding "duty to retreat" in the face of imminent harm, asserting that would-be crime victims have the right to "stand their ground" and "meet force with force" when attacked as long as they are in a place they have a right to be, are not engaged in unlawful activity and believe that their life and safety was in danger. (Skittles are dangerous. They have HFCS in them.)
Since its enactment, it has been frequently cited in cases ranging from a 2006 incident in which a man sprayed a vehicle carrying a known gang member with 14 bullets to the 2011 case of a man who was cleared under "stand your ground" after stabbing a man in the head with an ice pick during a road rage incident.
The number of justifiable homicides reported in the state has skyrocketed since the law went into effect.
"This is the NRA's vision of America: People carrying loaded guns on the street, shooting first and asking questions later," said Daniel Vice, senior attorney for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
The NRA did not immediately respond to a telephone message left with its public affairs office seeking comment.
the issue isn't self-defense. "The question is whether you can provoke confrontation and then shoot to kill,"
The family's attorney, Benjamin Crump, calls the self-defense claim preposterous.
"You can't go pick a fight with somebody and then say, 'Oh, self-defense,' when I shoot you," he said.
"In its most egregious forms, it appears to be giving criminal immunity,"
Having guns makes everyone safer……
A neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, has claimed self-defense in the February 26 shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was killed while walking back to the house of his father's fiancee after a trip to a convenience store. (He was armed with a bag of Skittles)
Florida's "stand your ground" law appears to be central to the case.
The law allows people to use deadly force away from their homes -- where such force has long been allowed -- if they have reasonable fear an assailant could seriously harm them or someone else.
It also eliminates a longstanding "duty to retreat" in the face of imminent harm, asserting that would-be crime victims have the right to "stand their ground" and "meet force with force" when attacked as long as they are in a place they have a right to be, are not engaged in unlawful activity and believe that their life and safety was in danger. (Skittles are dangerous. They have HFCS in them.)
Since its enactment, it has been frequently cited in cases ranging from a 2006 incident in which a man sprayed a vehicle carrying a known gang member with 14 bullets to the 2011 case of a man who was cleared under "stand your ground" after stabbing a man in the head with an ice pick during a road rage incident.
The number of justifiable homicides reported in the state has skyrocketed since the law went into effect.
"This is the NRA's vision of America: People carrying loaded guns on the street, shooting first and asking questions later," said Daniel Vice, senior attorney for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
The NRA did not immediately respond to a telephone message left with its public affairs office seeking comment.
the issue isn't self-defense. "The question is whether you can provoke confrontation and then shoot to kill,"
The family's attorney, Benjamin Crump, calls the self-defense claim preposterous.
"You can't go pick a fight with somebody and then say, 'Oh, self-defense,' when I shoot you," he said.
"In its most egregious forms, it appears to be giving criminal immunity,"
posted by res17 at
March 22, 2012
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