Before the NRA started lobbying the law said before you use lethal force in public you had a duty to retreat. That you could only use lethal force if you had no other option... Florida passes the new NRA law and a kid is murdered and there is a very good possibility that no charges can be filed... apparently the 17 year old had some candy and tea from the store walking home when he is confronted by a nutcase.

Monday, May. 02, 2005
"Last week, Governor Jeb Bush signed a bill that has become known as the "Stand Your Ground" law. The law immunizes citizens who use deadly force in self-defense against criminal prosecution and civil liability.

Critics of the law are afraid it will promote vigilantism..."

3/14/2012

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/17/10732812-family-911-calls-show-shooting-of-black-teen-was-not-self-defense

SANFORD, Fla. -- Calls made to police show that a black teenager was terrified as he tried to get away from the white neighborhood watch volunteer who shot him...

Sanford police released eight 911 calls late Friday. The neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, tells a dispatcher in the first call that he is following 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

He says Martin is running, but the dispatcher tells him not to follow the teen...

Zimmerman had called police to report a suspicious person walking through the gated community. He has said he shot the teen in self-defense...

The teen had gone to a convenience store to buy candy and was walking back to his family's home in the neighborhood.

"This guy looks like he is up to no good. He is on drugs or something," Zimmerman told the dispatcher from his SUV. He added that the black teen had his hand in his waistband and was walking around looking at homes...

 

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I'd rather live in a state that has decent self defense laws than a state that has none.

"Oh. That man had a gun at the head of your child so you killed him? Too bad. Murder."

edit: And this guy is probably going to jail.

Jessie Jackson, Non, and the hate crime brigade will be all over this one.

i'm not sure what connection you are showing here.. the person was not acting in accordance with the new law.. he isn't immune to prosecution in either the civil or criminal court.. the law itself is not a bad thing.

also, its florida. what you expect?

 

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Before this new law he would have been charged because he had a duty to retreat(or with no other options)before using lethal force in public.

The new law just lowered the standard for using lethal force in public... it makes it so you can "stand your ground" and not retreat before using lethal force.

To me it is just a strange law... why would you want to use lethal force if you can walk away?

 

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Because you are a republican and want to use it to kill innocent people they don't like (Gays, blacks)?

 

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the guy shoots a person that is running from him, not posing a threat to him? i am a strong supporter of the second amendment. i BELIEVE in the right of self defense. i BELIEVE in the right to protect your neighbors. this was NOT either of those. the guy should be going to prison for a long time.

Intent follows the bullet.

He says Martin is running, but the dispatcher tells him not to follow the teen

If he is shooting somebody running away from them then that's far from self defense. that would be more akin to murder.

 

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Sounds like he followed the kid and got in a shuffle match then shot him claiming self-defense... you are legally allowed to shoot someone in Florida in self-defense without having a duty to leave if available.

If he was indeed "scared for his life" the law says he is immune from prosecution...

Edit: I am not saying that this was the intention of the law... but it looks like an unintended consequence.

 

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I agree.

You have no right to shoot somebody fleeing. Now if he stops fleeing and goes for a gun, shoot all you want.

 

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I agree with jeune in a way. I think this is going to give alot of cowboys a green light to murder people when they are in a far less serious situation.

But as far as myself personally, this is a situation where I would want this law protecting me. I don't carry a gun or anything, but I believe I am capable of making the decision of whether or not I can actually flee or if I gotta put somebody down. If somebody mugs me with a knife, and I shoot them because I realize they are quite a bit taller than me and running is only going to get me a knife in the back, I don't want to deal with a prosecutor telling a court room of all the possible ways I could have escaped, so i must be a murderer. I made the call, I am a person who doesnt want to hurt people and someone approached ME and took away my right to live peacefully. I am not saying they would deserve death, but they made the decision to start it, I get to make the decision to end it.

Chasing someone down and shooting them is always murder. I would say this is murder AND a hate crime. Don't give me statistics, you see a black person walking down the street and follow them with a gun because they are up to no good, you have no place in civilized society. I hope this old bastard gets raped by black men in prison.