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applegrove

(118,793 posts) Wed Jul 17, 2013, 06:44 PM Jul 2013

"Why Holder's probe of 'stand your ground' laws stands out"

Why Holder's probe of 'stand your ground' laws stands out

By the Monitor's Editorial Board / July 17, 2013

http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2013/0717/Why-Holder-s-probe-of-stand-your-ground-laws-stands-out?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+feeds%2Fcsm+%28Christian+Science+Monitor+|+All+Stories%29

"SNIP.................................

Florida and nearly two dozen other states have passed such laws since 2005 in a campaign led by the National Rifle Association. The laws get rid of an old legal doctrine that anyone confronted by a dangerous person has a “duty to retreat” rather than shoot. And the laws provide greater legal leniency toward killers who claim they acted out of fear of harm or death.

That’s one reason Florida officials hesitated in arresting Mr. Zimmerman. He wasn’t charged for 44 days after the shooting. And even though his legal defense relied on a traditional self-defense argument rather than Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, the judge’s instructions to the jury specifically mentioned the law’s provision.

RELATED: 'Stand your ground' loses ground

While it is doubtful a Justice Department probe can make a legal challenge against the state laws, the federal scrutiny is needed. Homicide rates have risen 7 to 9 percent in states with stand-your-ground laws compared with other states, according to a 2012 Texas A&M study. And findings by Georgia State University “raise serious doubts against the argument that Stand Your Ground laws make [the] public safer.”

The laws “senselessly expand the concept of self-defense,” Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday. They “try to fix something that was never broken” and have “victimized too many who are innocent.”

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"Why Holder's probe of 'stand your ground' laws stands out" (Original Post) applegrove Jul 2013 OP

More than only 26 states, it's more like 31 Tx4obama Jul 2013 #1

To the nut-jobs, a 7% to 9% increase in homicide rates in states with stand-your-ground laws indepat Jul 2013 #2

Tx4obama

(36,974 posts)

1. More than only 26 states, it's more like 31

Reply to applegrove (Original post)

Wed Jul 17, 2013, 07:03 PM

Jul 2013

-snip-

Many states have some form of stand-your-ground law. Alabama,[12] Alaska,[13] Arizona,[14] California,[15][16] Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa,[17] Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana,[14] Maine, Massachusetts (though the term is used very loosely there),[18] Michigan,[14] Mississippi, Missouri, Montana,[14] New Hampshire,[14] North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma,[14] Pennsylvania ,[19], Rhode Island,[20] South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee,[14] Texas,[21] Utah,[22] West Virginia,[14], Wisconsin[23] and Wyoming have adopted Castle Doctrine statutes, and other states (Iowa,[24] Virginia,[25] and Washington) have considered stand-your-ground laws of their own.[26][27][28]

-snip-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_your_ground#United_States

p.s An article I read yesterday listed 30 states.
Not sure where that other article is now.

indepat

(20,899 posts)

2. To the nut-jobs, a 7% to 9% increase in homicide rates in states with stand-your-ground laws

Reply to applegrove (Original post)

Wed Jul 17, 2013, 07:38 PM

Jul 2013

compared with other states is a small price to pay for the joy of having a state-issued license to kill, i.e., to be able to fatally shoot an unarmed scary black child packing Skittles and not be convicted of a crime.

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