On February 26th, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was walking down the street in Sanford, Florida, when he was confronted by 28-year-old George Zimmerman. Trayvon Martin was carrying a can of iced tea and a bag of candy; George Zimmerman had a license to carry a concealed weapon and a 9 millimeter handgun.
First, there is no evidence that Zimmerman confronted Martin. When Zimmerman was on the phone with 911, he stated that Martin was running away. Martin's girlfriend said she was on the phone with him and heard Martin ask if Zimmerman had a problem to which Zimmerman replied "what are you doing here?"
Florida's weak concealed handgun licensing law enabled Zimmerman, who had been previously arrested for battering a police officer, and whose neighbors had complained about his aggressive behavior, to legally carry a hidden, loaded handgun in public.
If Zimmerman was LCAV's client, they would be raising hell about an arrest being brought up and yelling from the rooftops that it wasn't a conviction. It also seems that LCAV is supporting Open-Carry, since their only complaint is that the gun was "hidden"
Zimmerman had been following Martin in his car, telling the police in a 911 call that Trayvon looked "real suspicious" because he was "just walking around looking about." Zimmerman cornered the unarmed teenager, shot, and killed him. Afterward, the shooter claimed to be acting in self-defense; to date, he has not been charged with any crime.
There is NO evidence what so ever that indicates Zimmerman cornered Martin. The evidence shows that Martin attacked Zimmerman. Of course someone is going to claim self defense after they shoot someone, you can't claim it before you defend yourself.
Florida's extreme "Stand Your Ground" law, which establishes a low threshold to justify the use of deadly force, may now protect his implausible claim of self-defense. These laws create a poisonous recipe for tragedy: an innocent young man is now dead and his killer may be shielded from justice.
Florida's SYG law did not lower the threshold to justify defending yourself. The SYG law removed a duty to retreat, protects the person defending himself from civil litigation and protects the person defending himself from being locked up during the investigation.
Florida's weak laws are not unique. Twenty-five states, including Florida, have “Stand Your Ground” laws, containing provisions that generally allow the use of deadly force in self-defense with no duty to retreat when outside the home.
Let's go ahead a compare the Violent Crime Rates and Murder Rates between the 25 states that have SYG and the 19 that require a retreat
As you can see, the Duty to Retreat states have an average violent crime rate of 395.71 and a murder rate of 4.67.
The Stand Your Ground states have a lower violent crime rate of 383.74 and a lower murder rate of 4.61 so it appears that the Stand Your Ground law does not lead to more violent crime or murder.
BB- How do we (Illinoisians) have a stand your ground law, but yet no conceal/carry? What's your opinion?
ReplyDeleteContrary to what the anti-rights establishment would have you to believe, SYG laws are not permissive gun laws. SYG laws are more of a civil rights protection. It allows a person, not engaged in criminal behavior, to protect himself against criminal behavior, without a duty to retreat. SYG laws provide for civil immunity if you have to protect yourself and SYG laws provide protection for a person that has defended himself from being jailed until after a criminal investigation. Without the SYG law, a person who defended himself against a violent act, could still be sued in civil court, at his own expense, and could still be jailed during an investigation and trial, which could take years.
ReplyDeleteThere are no SYG laws that mention the use of a firearm. All of the current SYG laws provide for the use of deadly force, by whatever means, including baseball bats, knives, and automobiles.
Happy Easter.