NRA Lobbies To Expand Florida’s ‘SYG’ Law, As Shooter Stands Trial For Killing Jordan Davis

[SecularMotion]

Tuesday morning, the lawyer for Michael Dunn starts the first full day of his defense in the murder trial for his fatal shooting of 17-year-old Jordan Davis, in what is likely the most prominent Florida Stand Your Ground case since Trayvon Martin. But while Dunn and his lawyer are invoking the language of the Stand Your Ground law to argue that he shot the seemingly unarmed teen in self-defense, a state Senate panel will take up a bill Tuesday morning to expand Florida’s already-expansive self-defense law.

Florida’s Stand Your Ground law grants immunity from both criminal and civil charges to those who use deadly force anywhere they have a legal right to be without any duty to first attempt retreat, if they can show that they had a reasonable fear of imminent bodily harm or death. The law has been cited by many defendants who appear to have been exercising vigilantism — turning to their guns before first attempting to call the police or walk away. In Florida alone, at least 26 children and teens and 134 individuals overall have died in Stand Your Ground cases since the law’s passage. While moves to repeal failed in November, another bill to instead expand the law is advancing rapidly.

The new bill has been dubbed a “warning shot” bill, and now a “threatened force” bill, and it would extend Stand Your Ground-like immunity from both criminal and civil charges to those who point a gun at an attacker or fire a gun as a self-defense threat or warning. The provision easily cleared a House committee in November, and will go before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday morning.

In anticipation of the vote, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune’s “The Gun Writer” blog posted an item Tuesday that, verbatim, published a National Rifle Association press release on the bill and accompanying op-ed. The National Rifle Association and Republicans backing the bill are capitalizing on provisions that roll back the state’s mandatory minimum sentencing scheme, known as “10-20-life” to garner support. “People make mistakes and do irrational things when in fear of death or injury. That doesn’t mean they should go to prison for 20 years when there was no injury or harm done,” reads the re-posted op-ed by past NRA President Marion P. Hammer.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/02/11/3273881/shooter-stands-trial-jacksonville-teens-shooting-death-nra-lobbying-expand-florida-stand-ground/

[Turbineguy]

1. Not enough people are getting shot!

[Swede Atlanta]

2. No, NRA you are going in the wrong direction with this one....

Rather than extend the protection to excuse someone who "does something dumb", you should in fact require the person who feels threatened to remove themselves from the scene if they can do so safely - mandate retreat.

These SYG laws only increase violence. NRA suggests that by having no duty to retreat this deters crime and reduces violence. I suggest it does as in the Zimmerman and Dunn cases, emboldens men with tiny dicks to swagger out and attack others using SYG as a defense.

Why would we in a society not want to have someone remove themselves from the scene and call the police if they can do so safely and if, and only if, they reasonably feel threatened with serious bodily harm or death and cannot retreat is deadly force allowed.

[pipoman]

3. The standard prior to the passage of syg

In most states was "duty to retreat". It has significant problems too. People who were legitimately in danger, fought back resulting in the death of the attacker, were then required to prove that they didn't have an avenue for escape. This seems reasonable enough. The problems are that after the incident the area would be mapped, in most cases when looking at it from that perspective there is almost always a place to retreat to. In the moment however, it is unreasonable to expect someone to analyze every possible avenue for escape. This resulted in costly criminal defenses, and convictions of people who were minding their own business, attacked, responding and losing everything they had worked for because of the unlawful actions of another...injustice.

The syg laws have certainly resulted in injustices too. Not all duty to retreat convictions were unjust, nor are all syg defenses. It is sort of a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' situation. It is also important to realize that simply because someone uses a syg defense, doesn't mean it will be effective. There will be incidents that result in injustices regardless of what standard we set. I would rather 5 guilty go free than 1 innocent be imprisoned.

[Blue_Tires]

4. The NRA just wants to create a climate which will spur more gun sales....

That one motive is the driver of all their actions....

[Lost_Count]

6. I just don't understand that...

Why should I, a person occupying a space legally, be forced out by someone else's illegal actions?

[Boom Sound 416]

7. Gun voilence is down in FL.

[SecularMotion]

5. Kick

[DesMoinesDem]

8. Neither of these cases were Stand Your Ground cases.

in what is likely the most prominent Florida Stand Your Ground case since Trayvon Martin.

Neither the Trayvon case nor this one used the Stand Your Ground law as a defense. It's sad that so many in the media have no problem spreading lies.