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Trayvon Martin’s Mom calls on Americans to contact their governor to ask them to “reexamine similar Stand Your Ground [SYG] laws throughout the nation to keep our families safe.” Reexamine? That’s it? As a call to action, that’s weak sauce. As an emotional appeal to rally the gun control base, close enough. But, what, exactly is the problem? The linked website secondchancecampaign.org tries to spell it out . . .
Prior to “Shoot First,” people had a traditional duty to retreat from a situation outside their home when they could safely do so. Now, afforded immunity and a presumption of lawfulness by the law, armed individuals can seek out opportunities to use deadly force outside their homes. And the hands of law enforcement and prosecutors are tied.
Everyday conflicts can now escalate more easily into deadly shootouts, and the killers can rely on blanket immunity from prosecution or civil suits if they say they felt threatened.
That’s so wrong on so many levels it would take Bruce Krafft 2000 words to fully parse. Suffice it to say, Trayvon’s Mom could have used her son’s death as a teachable moment for a lot of other causes. Attacking Stand Your Ground laws does nothing to help the “children” (mostly teens involved in gangs) shot to death each year.
And much to hurt people who seek to exercise their legal right to armed self-defense. Calling Stand Your Ground laws “Shoot First” laws is a huge disservice to the rule of law in our country, and helps puts innocent lives in harm’s way. Ironic isn’t it?