BROKEN LAWS – STAND YOUR GROUND
16 states have explicitly enacted “Stand Your Ground” laws that remove the requirement to retreat before matching force with force or using deadly force in self-defense. 25 states have enacted similar laws via the courts. This law is an extension to the case the “Castle Doctrine.” The Stand Your Ground law, originated in Florida and the statute reads as follows:
” A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony. “
The following states have also enacted similar “Stand Your Ground” laws:
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Connecticut
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- New Hampshire
- Nevada
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Other states may have similar laws via court case or other means but they have not official written it into laws.
The problem with the “Stand Your Ground” law is that it is so broad that it opens an loop hole for individuals to just go on a killing spree, become a vigilante or just go hunting for people (like in the movie The Purge.) The original idea behind the law was to address domestic violence situations, as well as Dennis Baxley, FLA state rep., idea that a person should have any legal risk by having to defend himself or property. (Dennis Baxley is an NRA member and owns a funeral business, this might have been a conflict of interest…but thats for another day.) Either way, the law wasn’t narrowly written for those specific situation. For this reason I believe that this law needs to be revised, limited, abolished and/or repealed.
This will not happen unless we decide that enough is enough and we demand change.
NOW IS THE TIME. DEMAND IT.
Inform and Engage 
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