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Stand-your-ground law
We can't say we weren't warned.
Back in 2005, opponents of Florida's first-of-its-kind "stand your ground" law said it wouldn't be long before we'd see shootouts in the streets — all in the name of self-defense.
Arguments over something as trivial as exceeding the 10-item limit in a grocery store's express lane could escalate to deadly violence, or in Tryavon Martin's case a small bag of skittles.
Prodded by their NRA masters, lawmakers waved off those predictions as exaggerations. Then they overwhelmingly passed a bill that took the "castle doctrine" to infinity and beyond. The "castle doctrine" used to mean you could use deadly force if someone attacked you in your home. "Stand your ground" not only absolved the homeowner of any obligation to retreat, it extended that concept outside the home.
Gov. Jeb Bush couldn't sign the bill fast enough.
Seven years later, those warnings so casually dismissed by Bush and the Legislature are taking shape.
Seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin is dead, and Central Florida is the focus of an international spectacle, quite possibly a result of Florida's politicians deciding to become the 21st century's Wild West.
Tea bagger radical ideology and laws - the likes of this extreme OK Corral style mentality, comes with severe consequences.
Trayvon is not be the only victim here.
I haven't heard of any fatal disputes over the grocery check-out line, but in 2010 an unarmed man was shot and killed at a park near Tampa in a dispute over skateboarding rules. The victim's 10-year-old daughter watched her father die.
NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer wouldn't comment about the Trayvon Martin case when contacted Monday. I don't blame her. There is no good way for gun proponents to spin the death of an unarmed teenager.
Justifiable murder law tripled when this bill passed!
Self-defense has always been an acceptable reason for police and prosecutors to dismiss charges or not bring any in the first place. Nobody wants to see someone who was genuinely in fear for their life end up in jail because they took action to protect themselves or others.
Florida is among 21 states with a "Stand Your Ground Law," which gives people wide latitude to use deadly force rather than retreat during a fight.
I had a disagreement with a fellow Facebook'er this evening.
"If the kid had been white":
If this kid had been white would this had happen? Do I really need to explain this?
The 911 tapes clearly depict Zimmerman [shooter] saying to dispatcher "fucking coons"!
The shooter was also told that if he was chasing the perp to stand down [I guess perp to Floridians and Zimmerman means black kid with hoodie toting skittles].
Lets be clear readers, if the kid was white this story would never exist, as the white kid would be home today using the bathroom to "unload" his skittles in the toilet, Trayvon Martin had to deposit his skittles in a diaper at the morgue!
This law, this unwarranted death, these police, are all encapsulated in a nasty stench! This entire story makes me angry, sick, and ashamed to say that this is the country I defend everyday!
The Castle Doctrine has to be addressed! This will not be the only case of horrible death attributed to the Stand Your Ground law. [which, by the way, was heavily promoted by the NRA to get passed - you know - the “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” freaks.]
This law at best is very vague, this law takes America back to the days of the OK Corral, or the times of the old Wild West. Nothing good can come from shoot first and ask questions later.
In the name of justice, arrest this asshat vigilante named George Zimmerman!
RELATED: Man lives to tell of Florida "Shoot First" horror
NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief
Roger West
