Offensive Self Defense will now be the law of the land

[berni_mccoy]

You have the right to aggravate and threaten someone into attacking you and then kill them because you fear for your life. That will be the fallout of this case and one of the (many) downfalls of this society.

[TDale313]

1. I fear you're right. n/t

[TwilightZone]

2. In many states, it already is.

Has been for years. Every state with a stand your ground law, for starters.

[berni_mccoy]

5. This is different than stand your ground

You can now go to a persons house and threaten them until they attack or threaten you, and then kill them in “self defense”

[TwilightZone]

6. No different.

That's essentially what George Zimmerman did, no? Trayvon wasn't a threat until Zimmerman made him a threat.

[berni_mccoy]

11. Stand your ground doesn't give you the right to threaten someone

The fact that Zimmerman got away with what he did isn’t quite the same. I do see the similarities that you point out. And it is arguable they are the same. The difference here is that Zimmerman was not living across state lines and stand your ground was already the law in FL. It’s not in Wisconsin.

[TwilightZone]

12. In Wisconsin, it effectively does.

The jury clearly bought the defense's argument, based on WI law, that retreating was a key component in this.

They argued that as long as he retreated after he created the threat, his rights to defend himself were restored. Obviously, this interpretation proved persuasive to the jury.

We can certainly disagree with it, but we're not on the jury, and the law, frankly, leaves a lot to interpretation.

[berni_mccoy]

13. Yes, after today's verdict it does.

[maxsolomon]

3. Yes, but don't be Black or a "Leftist".

The bullet-riddled corpse of Michael Reinoehl asks "WTF? I wasn't even given a chance to defend myself in court."

[mikeysnot]

4. They call it stand your ground

It plays out well for the gun fetish wannabe rambozos out there…

[JohnSJ]

7. That is a double edged sword

[BlueCheeseAgain]

8. Basically, that was the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case.

We have too many guns in this country, and way too many aggressive, unstable people who use them as self-appointed vigilantes.

Still, as grievous a miscarriage of justice as the Trayvon Martin case was, I'm not sure it led to an increase in similar cases.

[WarGamer]

9. Laws are different in different States.

People can change laws... lobby your State legislature.

[Hav]

10. If this is what people take away from this case,

then I agree, there'll be many tragedies. I think they'd be making the wrong conclusions and they would pay the price for that.