Following the Trayvon Martin shooting, there was a massive backlash against Florida’s Stand Your Ground law — the one that removes the duty to retreat from somewhere you have a legal right to be when being attacked by someone with deadly intent. A law which, to those without an axe to grind, makes perfect sense. And apparently, a panel that the Governor of the state of Florida commissioned with the task of figuring out if any changes to the law are needed agrees. For the most part . . .
From the Tampa Bay Times:
Created in the wake of national uproar over Trayvon Martin’s shooting death, a 19-member task force spent six months traveling the state and taking public testimony about Florida’s most controversial self-defense law.
The result? Little, if anything, will change.
The task force commissioned by Gov. Rick Scott to review the “stand your ground” law prepared its final report Tuesday, indicating that the law is mostly fine as it is.
In a report to the Legislature, the group offered up only minor tweaks to the law — including changes that could actually make it easier to claim self-defense after killing someone.
The only changes actually recommended by the panel are a refining of the definition of those who can claim the “Stand Your Ground” defense, and some language to dissuade neighborhood watch groups from “engaging in vigilantism.”
The backlash against the recommendations was as quick as it was predictable. “Gun Control Advocates” weren’t happy, mainly because they don’t like anything related to guns that doesn’t end up with the U.S. looking more like the U.K.. But rather than attacking the findings, they seem to be attacking the commissioners themselves, stating “It was a Republican-dominated commission, and it was full of people who supported ‘stand your ground’ to begin with.”
The upshot is that, for once, despite massively polarized pontification by national media, the laws weren’t subjected to a knee-jerk reaction from the state government. The untimely death of one person didn’t lead to a law change that could have condemned hundreds. I’d call that a win for “common sense.”