Lefties are using the tragic death of Trayvon Martin as an occasion to call into question ‘stand your ground’ (SYG) laws. In the face of a legitimate threat, the duty to retreat is removed from citizens who have a right to be where they are, their right to self defense is explicitly affirmed and they’re shielded from prosecution. Disparaged by the anti-2A crowd as “shoot first” laws, these statutes are being blamed of a number of perceived injustices. What’s missing from these thoughtful meditations on SYG, though, is why the laws exist in the first place . . .
During the 2008 election, prosecutors from both St. Louis City and St. Louis County stepped up to be part of the so-called “Obama Truth Squad” to take on anyone who “…lies or runs a misleading TV ad during the presidential campaign.” Both Jennifer Joyce, Circuit Attorney for the City of St. Louis and Bob McCullough, St. Louis County prosecutor here in my home state of Missouri, were excoriated for their implicit willingness to use the power of their offices to intimidate people for exercising their First Amendment rights. At the time I thought it appalling that any public official would even think that was an acceptable idea, much less talk about it in public like it was no big deal.
If Democrat prosecutors like Joyce and McCullough would put it out there that I could be prosecuted for saying something about a political candidate that one of them believes is a lie, what would I expect to get if I were involved in a defensive gun use?
“Progressive” tools like Joyce and McCullough are every bit as contemptuous of the Second Amendment as they are the First. For decades, men and women have been forced to live under misguided laws that did nothing to reduce gun crime but made it safer to carjack, rob or invade the homes of otherwise law-abiding citizens. Progs don’t believe in self-defense if the exercise of self-defense runs afoul of a beloved shibboleth such as “all gun use is evil.”
Defending oneself is one of those no-brainer concepts that too many people with expensive educations can’t seem to understand. Because these highly educated types tend to get elected in areas where crime is a problem, they represent a very real threat to the liberty of law abiding citizens who defend themselves.
Stand your ground or castle doctrine laws such as those we have in Missouri only exist because the people demanded their representatives strip showboating prosecutors of the ability to heap injustice upon a citizen for doing what everyone knows is a natural right- defending his own life.
Inevitably, laws written to correct a lack of common sense will create situations where injustice can take place. While I haven’t seen a credible circumstance where a SYG or castle doctrine shielded someone who clearly committed murder from prosecution, I imagine it could happen. If or when it does, liberals will have no one to blame but themselves.