Stand-your-ground law

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"Stand Your Ground" laws, sometimes called shoot-first laws by critics, are statutes that allow the use of deadly force to defend against forcible unlawful entry or attack. These bills significantly expand the boundaries of legal self-defense by eliminating a person's duty to retreat from an invader or assailant in certain cases before resorting to the use of "defensive force that is intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm to another." [1]

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[edit] Florida

The state of Florida in the United States became the first to enact such a law on October 1, 2005. The Florida statute allows the use of deadly force when a person reasonably believes it necessary to prevent the commission of a "forcible felony." Under the statute, forcible felonies include "treason; murder; manslaughter; sexual battery; carjacking; home-invasion robbery; robbery; burglary; arson; kidnapping; aggravated assault; aggravated battery; aggravated stalking; aircraft piracy; unlawful throwing, placing, or discharging of a destructive device or bomb; and any other felony which involves the use or threat of physical force or violence against any individual."[1]

The Florida law authorizes the use of defensive force by anyone "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." Furthermore, under the law, such a person "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 statute also grants civil and criminal immunity to anyone found to have had such a reasonable belief.[1]

Many supporters of the legislation, including the National Rifle Association, have dubbed the Florida statute a "Stand Your Ground" law, since it allows people to 'stand their ground' in defense of themselves and their property when attacked without fear of prosecution or civil lawsuits. Wayne LaPierre, the CEO of the NRA has said, "For someone attacked by criminals to be victimized a second time by a second-guessing legal system is wrong."[2]

Critics of the legistation, however, fear that laws like this will lead to a rise in gun-related deaths by encouraging vigilantism and pre-emptive shootings. Zach Ragbourn, a spokesperson for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, has said that laws like Florida's "are more accurately called 'Shoot First' laws. They allow a person who just feels something bad is going to happen to open fire in public."[2]

[edit] Other states

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Since the enactment of the Florida legislation, Alabama,[3] South Dakota, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Indiana have adopted similar statutes, and other states (Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wyoming) are currently considering "Stand Your Ground" laws of their own.[2]

Some of the states that have passed or are considering "stand your ground" legislation already are considered "stand your ground" in their case law. These states include: Washington State (per State v. Reynaldo Redmond), Indiana, and Georgia. Though stand your ground is already caselaw in these states, these states still passed "stand your ground" into statute due to possible concerns of the caselaw being replaced by "duty to retreat" by future court rulings. Also, these states did not have civil immunity for self defense in their previous self defense statutes.

Utah has historically adhered to the principles of "stand your ground" without the need to refer to this new legislation. The use of deadly force to defend persons on one's own property is specifically permitted by Utah state law.[4] The law specifically states that a person does not have a duty to retreat[5] from a place where a person has lawfully entered or remained.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Florida Statutes Title XLVI Chapter 776
  2. ^ a b c "States allow deadly self-defense" by Richard Willing, USAToday, March 20, 2006, retrieved April 4, 2006
  3. ^ Ala. Code 13A-3-23(b): "A person who is justified under subsection (a) in using physical force, including deadly physical force, and who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and is in any place where he or she has the right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground."
  4. ^ Utah Code, title 76, chapter 2, section 407 "Deadly force in defense of persons on real property"
  5. ^ Utah Code, title 76, chapter 2, section 402 "Force in defense of person -- Forcible felony defined", paragraph 3
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