I am writing about a subject that gets press these days….gun violence.
In Mississippi especially here on the Coast we have seen an increase of violence with deaths….and it is nothing unusual in ‘stand your ground’ states.
Stand-your-ground laws, which are in effect in more than half of U.S. states, are associated with higher homicide rates, increased racial disparities in legal outcomes and broader public costs, according to a new report from Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control research and advocacy group.
Stand-your-ground or shoot first laws remove the legal duty to retreat before using deadly force in a self-defense situation. These laws evolved from the centuries-old castle doctrine, which permitted individuals to use force to defend themselves in their own homes.
Modern stand-your-ground statutes expanded this principle to apply in public spaces. Florida enacted the first such law in 2005, and the policy drew national attention in 2012 after the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, a private citizen.
Over the years, these laws have gained traction in state legislatures with strong backing from gun rights organizations. At least 35 states have stand-your-ground statutes or laws that expand the castle doctrine to apply beyond the home, according to a separate analysis by the RAND Corporation.
A standalone 2022 study published in the peer-reviewed medical journal JAMA Network found that stand-your-ground laws were associated with an 8% to 11% increase in monthly homicide and firearm homicide rates nationwide. Several Southern states –– Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Louisiana –– saw increases of 10% or more.
States that have adopted stand-your-ground laws have seen gun homicides rise by up to 11% annually from 1999 to 2017, according to the JAMA report. That equates to more than 700 additional gun deaths each year, according to estimates in the Everytown report.
I realize that this situation in the age of His Royal Highness Donny is not as important as a bathroom or sports or tomato pickers but that is no excuse for ignoring the glaring stats.
What is my suggestion?
Stop applying political BS and apply commonsense and decency to the policies that now govern our states and the conserv agenda that does NOTHING to make us great or safe.
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
Over here, we have the clause of ‘appropriate force’ when considering self-defence. If you shoot a burglar who is unarmed, you can be tried for murder. The same if you kill someone with a baseball bat for breaking into your house. The courts will judge the use of appropriate force when deciding whether to charge for Manslaughter or Murder. That said, we do not have the levels of gun ownership here, not even a tiny fraction of the US gun ownership by individuals.
Best wishes, Pete.
Stand your ground was just one of those conserv slogans that they use to pay off the NRA for the money they give. chuq
They have really distorted the original intent of stand your ground. In Florida it was to protect a homeowner from home invasion or a store owner to protect against robberies as perps would most certainly be armed. It was designed to protect the victim in his defense effort from charges if they were not the attacker. It was not designed as a protection against charges of criminality in deaths from an incident or dispute or mere recklessness of an initiator of a confrontation things of that nature.
With all things it goes far beyond the intent…..chuq
Common sense will never apply in the face of profit by gun manufacturers. The whole mindset of having guns about the person needs to be addressed in law.
I agree….but the conservs use the gun issue to keep people divided and afraid. chuq