so, first thread I've ever started, scary. ^_^
Anyway, the recent thread about the guy driving off armed robbers with his own gun made me think of this, and since I didn't want to threadjack that one any more than I already had I figured I'd start a new one.
How do people feel about the Stand-Your-Ground laws?
Since Florida passed theirs in October of last year there have been quite a few states that have passed them and others that are considering it.
In case people don't know what the heck I'm talking about, here's some parts of the wikipedia article on it, which as we all know is the be-all-end-all of internet knowledge.
Quote:
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
Since the enactment of the Florida legislation, South Dakota, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Indiana have adopted similar statutes, and other states (Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wyoming) are currently considering "Stand Your Ground" laws of their own.
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To start things off, I am overwhelmingly in support of this. Putting the law squarely behind people who are willing to put their lives on the line for others is awesome.
One interesting note, and something I hope will spur vigorous arguments, is that robbery and burglary are on the list of acceptable reasons to kill a criminal. In these two cases the criminal does not neccessarily, in my mind, have to be threatening anyone with harm. I personally still think they should be fair game, but I can also see how people might consider that over the limit of acceptibility.
So, what do you think? Should Joe Public be allowed to whip out his gun in a public place and attempt to kill criminals or not?