thanks for the clarification. .. ugh.

One guy pulls a gun and kills the other guy. Can the killer claim a "stand your ground" self-defense? Thats absurd right?

If one party disengages- and makes it known that they're disengaging- then the other party can't continue.

See 2(b) here- http://law.onecle.com/florida/crimes/776.041.html

When there is a shooting and death and no clear evidence of self defense then this case needs to go to court.

that if you decide to use lethal force it is in your best interests to make sure the other person ends up dead.

and it sucks.

I still can't understand how they're able to take over that state. Are the majority of Floridians really that dense??

Wherever Republican'ts gain power, the state, the city, the town, heck, the country goes to hell almost immediately.

When will Americans learn?

There is no other way to interpret it in my point of view.

maybe the law needs to be changed. but i think some (the police, and some attacking the law) have fallen into arguing from a position full of racial assumptions - most of all that the white guy with a gun had to be the one standing his ground.

Yeah, paranoid.

That's why even if you believe Zimmerman's story 100%, he still can't legally claim self defense. He became the aggressor when he chased Martin.

If this case ever goes to court Zimmerman is toast... imo.

Martin had every right to be where he was, was not engaged in a criminal act, and did not initiate the aggression.

whether through force or the threat (even implied) of force, trayvon had a right to stand his ground.

my point (which is still a minority here) is that the stand your ground law does apply here, just not in the way people here (and the media at large) have assumed it does.

you and i are in total agreement on this. i (and i think you based on previous posts) support stand your ground laws. i just think there was a racially based missaplication of it embedded in the local cops' decision to not charge zimmerman.

i interpret duty to retreat laws as as a burden on the victims of bullies to continue to behave as victims. i don't think a gay person has any duty to flee a gay basher.

It doesn't count unless the violent crazy has an NRA-approved gun.

on the way home by a black man claiming he looked suspicious.

Then the police ask the shooter a few questions then set him free with the gun he used to kill the little white boy with.

Really? I say REALLY????

Oh hells yeah thats gonna happens all over American, you betcha yah!

"Jim Crow" is still alive and well in America.

These stand your ground laws are the modern day equivalent of lynchings.

Its open season on blacks and any other "suspicious looking person" (non white most likely) in America!