After all the post-Trayvon sturm und drang over Stand Your Ground laws – remember how they were called a license to kill? – Florida Governor Rick Scott’s 19-member committee tasked with examining the law and making recommendations where necessary decided that the law is basically fine as it stands. miamiherald.com is reporting that, “The task force made a handful of recommendations for the Legislature, but began the report by stating that, at its core, the self-defense law is fine as it is. ‘All persons who are conducting themselves in a lawful manner have a fundamental right to stand their ground and defend themselves from attack with proportionate force in every place they have a lawful right to be,’ the report reads.” . . .
Since you can’t empanel a group like that an expect them to recommend nothing, they dutifully wrote up a few recommendations to justify their existence.
The group’s recommendations included reconsidering the state’s 10-20-Life law, tightening standards for neighborhood watch groups and commissioning a study to look into issues of racial disparities and unintended consequences of Stand Your Ground.
And, shockingly, the fact that the Governor’s task force, chaired by Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll (above) didn’t recommend shredding Florida’s Stand Your Ground law didn’t make everyone happy.
“It’s what I expected,” said Sen. Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, told the News Service of Florida. “When you put a task force together of people who wrote the bill and full of people who support Stand Your Ground I knew the task force wouldn’t come up with anything earth-shattering in their final report.”
This is Florida. This is what a Republican legislature and governor looks like. This is consequences (good) of elections. Listen and learn.
Proud to be a Floridian today !!!
Yeeehhhaaaaaa!
Likewise! Still a great state: good weather, good orange juice, great beaches, and good firearms laws. (To include the largest population of CCW holders)
I’m suddenly jonesing for some Skittles. Taste the effing rainbow.
I like the fact that one suggestion that did come out was to reconsider 10-20-Life. It’s gun fear mongering at it’s finest.
Yes, they see what the prosecutors like Angela Corey are doing, making a unlawful discharge into a 20 year offense, when the intent is clearly not malicious (albeit stupid and dangerous). She is going to get some jury to convict George Zimmerman of some fictitious assault charge, then mandatory sentencing will kick it up to Life+No Parole. She did it with a woman in Jax. The woman fired warning shots into her ceiling so her pos husband would gtfo. She is serving 20 years for not killing him.
Someone got 20 years for firing warning shots?
I’d missed that one.
Glad I’m in Kansas…
Wish Minnesota was even close, but no cigar, we are CONTROLLED by Demoncrats.
Suggestion, Anyone who is actively being a neighborhood watch person must have at least a uniform top identifying them as such./// Wis. doesn’t have stand your ground, don’t need it though as we have a DA that doesn’t have a minority/worship ajenda, Randy
I moved from NY to Florida a few months ago. All this liberty and sunshine is quite nice. I get a freedom-boner just thinking about it.
Also, bonus points for the commission recommending we do away with 10-20-life. Mandatory minimums are bad. They cannot substitute for a competent judge.
well, i know it’s offtopic, but one question: what has “sturm and drang” to do with all that? is it a kind of proverb? in germany, the term is used to describe an art (especially literature) movement in the late 18. century. i can’t get the connection to the florida stand your ground – laws or the debate about them.
It doesn’t have to make sense, as long as it sounds literary and stuff.
Literally translated from the German, it means “storm and stress.”
yeah, i know … but this term in german stands for what i pointed out above, and i still didn’t get the connection to the gun-control-thing.
Sturm und drang or storm and stress. “And” has a different meaning in German.
“and” has a meaning in german? i’m german and i didn’t know it. (beside from beiing used as an abbreviation sometimes and it’s role as a suffix) wondering …
“When you put a task force together of people who wrote the bill and full of people who support [it] I knew the task force wouldn’t come up with anything earth-shattering in their final report.”
Yeah. Kind of like Biden’s task force on gun violence.
+100
+100.
You stole my thunder! That’s the first thing that popped into my head when I read that.
Don’t get too cocky. This is the same legislature that won’t let even permission slip holders carry openly when most states don’t require a license. Tyranny could very well come to Florida. There are more hispanics and blacks voting which means more Democrats which means more tyranny.
I fully believe that a wholesale overhaul of Florida’s really basically excellent gun laws is only waiting on the next interval of Democrat-controlled government, up to and including the repeal or crippling of the Stand Your Ground statutes.
And that scares me.
“Stand Your Ground” is fine. It’s the I’m not a cop but this gun gives me the right to go into harm’s way and doing something I’m not authorized to do, that people need to remember.
Why do you think you need to be authorized and who do you think has this magical power over you?
You have the right to go into harm’s way if you choose, whether you have a gun or not. That doesn’t mean it’s smart, but you can. As far as “authorized,” yeah, what Storm said.
Yes, stand your ground is not only fine it should be national law. And all this uproar about SYG is because of a case that hasn’t come to trial yet. For all we know the law will be found to have been violated in the case in question.
stand your ground is not only fine it should be national law
Actually, it is. There is no duty to retreat in federal law. See Brown v. United States, 256 U.S. 335, 343 (1921) citing Beard v. U.S., 158 U.S. 550 (1895).
Can this become a constitutional amendment? Reason may reign supreme at the moment in FL, however if CO has taught me anything, it’s that all of it can change in the blink of an eye.
Meanwhile, Florida is a blue state. And Zimmerman’s defense team got hammered by the judge at today’s hearing. If the blues get the Florida house and senate all bets are off.
And, I like 10-20-life – it works.
Yeah, I’m still trying to figure how FL is blue presidentially, but overwhelmingly Repub at the state level, except Bill Nelson. Miami Dade vs the rest of the state, maybe.
And Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties (Tampa, Clearwater and St. Petersburg) on the west coast.
and orlando/orange county
There is a population skew on presidential elections but not for the ones inside the state (for state seats). This is something to look at. I’ll get back on this after some research.
Stand Your Ground should be the law of the land from border to border. Noone should have to retreat from a threat before they can take action to defend themselves. You don’t wanna get shot, don’t attack someone!
That took courage, especially since she is going to face angry members of the self appointed black leadership in this country.
The only problem with any Stand Your Ground Law, will be found in how the cops deal with it. If they allow a shooter with an extremely suspect story, that likely murdered the person to not even be investigated, then it’s an issue.
Show a case where that actually happened.
Yeah, that happened. That Zimmerman dude. Remember?
He’s not a hero because he stalked someone for a couple miles, was ordered to by the cops to back off and stop the harassment, and then used a gun to kill someone who stood his ground.
Having a gun does not necessarily make one right, either.
A couple miles? What the hell are you smoking? The entire neighborhood is only 3-400 yards across, and the distance from the entrance to where the altercation happened is only about 175.
“…ordered to by the cops to back off and stop the harassment…”
It’s quite a way from “We don’t need you to do that” to “back off and stop the harassment,” but I guess you hear what you want to hear, huh?
“…then used a gun to kill someone who stood his ground.”
As I said in response to your other comment, this is the first I’m hearing of there being an actual eyewitness to the events. Why are you talking about it here, and just now, instead of talking to the authorities so that your observations can ensure justice is done?
I’m referring to Zimmerman’s history with 911.
Martin was not the first guy he bothered; just the first (of whom we know) to die.
The past is prologue.
Here in NC a true “castle law” was enacted in 2011. At that time they also removed our “duty to retreat” from a threat of serious bodily harm, or death. Well done FL! In the event you use defensive force, “I feared for my life, I want to speak to an attorney.”
My goodness! Gov. Scott sure picks attractive women to fill his posts. Carroll is smoking, but my heart belongs to our attorney general, Pam Bondi.
http://myfloridalegal.com/
About a year ago I decided it was time to buy my first handgun. Our dear leader’s march towards greatness along with the Zimmerman DGU and political fallout had me feeling, for the first time in my life, that my right to defend myself is being threatened. Living in Florida also had me concerned that I would soon encounter the upcoming, media driven, Rodney King 2.0 riots after the Zimmerman acquittal. So, here I am today, mystified about where we are as a nation, stocking up on ammo, and glad that there is no mention of more control in FL.
Be greedy, choose both!
In all fairness, Trevon Martin was killed by an armed thug ’cause he stood his ground, or – horrors – turned upon his stalker and demanded to know WTF.
I wish he’d had a gun.
That said, I’m glad the next TM will still have that option.
Wow! How come I haven’t heard of an eye witness before now? Why haven’t you come forward and told the authorities what you know?
I feel that Zimmerman was villified by the media and the people after news broke, but Matt, just because there aren’t people to say that Zimmerman acted in a bad way doesn’t mean that he automatically acted in a good, defensive way either. I have seen quite a few explanations that make the event out in ways that neither person acted maliciously. There’s a good chance something along those lines happened rather than the ideas that one or the other was clearly in the wrong
I never said Zimmerman did right. I’m just saying, and have been since this started, that people who automatically say he did wrong are speaking out of ignorance. My statement since the beginning is that “we don’t know.” The only people who know are Martin and Zimmerman, and the rest of us are left to muddle it out through the evidence. Evidence which neither you nor I, nor (I’m guessing) Russ Bixby are privy to at this point.
Maybe my prejudices, such as they may be, are informing my point of view in not crucifying him, but I think that my prejudices are less of a factor in my opinion than the prejudices of those who are calling him a racist murderer. In short, their prejudices say “kill him for what he did,” while my prejudices say “prove what happened first.” I’m comfortable with my position, and conveniently, the American judicial ideal of “innocent until proven guilty” is on my side.
Granted, I wasn’t there.
However, Martin had history of being a shiftless irritant – i.e. an urban teen.
Zimmerman had a long history of bothering 911 and harassing people.
Also the glaring inconsistencies n his story. I used to be an EMT and know a beating when I see it, and he wasn’t it.
I’m going with the odds, here, I’ll admit, but the odds are in my favour,
Also, the way the local constabulary ignored the matter for weeks, and only did anything following the media getting involved, seems far too “good ol’ boy” network.
Lastly, I still and fervently hope that the next guy being stalked and challenged by a busybody is armed.
Narf,
Russ