Stand your ground - FL

[Joshy]

I think the idea of stand your ground is a good thing. I want to have the right to protect myself if i have to, and know that I'm not going to be thrown in prison for protecting my own life.

Besides that, I do think that there are people who would, and probably have abused this law, and claimed it in their defense to get out of trouble. Do these people get to take away our rights to protect ourselves?

[Gekidami]

I think the idea of stand your ground is a good thing. I want to have the right to protect myself if i have to, and know that I'm not going to be thrown in prison for protecting my own life.

But you get that with a duty to retreat included in the law. Stand Your Ground is the removal of the duty to retreat... You know, i'm seriously starting to think people here dont actually have a clue what SYG is, it seems people believe its just the right to defend yourself using deadly force. Its not only that.

[Gaius Baltar]

Without being a lawyer or a Floridian, my opinion doesn't matter jack squat, but here it is anyway:

A person does have the right to defend themself, and according to the second amendment of the US constitutition has the right to own and even carry a firearm to do so. However, in my opinion, a person does not have the right to escalate a situation, and turn a fist fight into a gun killing. Its hard to say where to draw the line in these cases; after all some people are large, strong, well trained, or simply determined enough to kill with their bare hands... but the killing of an unarmed man or woman with a deadly weapon is without a doubt uncalled for. After all, in most cases any gunshot wound can be fatal, if not treated correctly or quickly enough. And most civilians with little training have neither the skill nor grace under fire to attack using a purposefully non-lethal shot.

But, fundamentally isn't Florida where people go to die anyway? Let them die, and decrease the surplus population! Bah humbug.

[Joshy]

Sometimes you can't run away.

[Dudel]

But, fundamentally isn't Florida where people go to die anyway? Let them die, and decrease the surplus population! Bah humbug.

Some of us were born here, ya know.

Sometimes you can't run away.

And you shouldn't have to. ...but normal self defense laws fall under that circumstance. Gekidami's contention is that people can basically be an additional aggressor and get away with it. In effect skipping the point of "trying to run" and going right to deadly force.

[Gaius Baltar]

Sorry dude L, I thought the "bah humbug" made the Christmas Carol reference obvious enough; I was apparently wrong. It's what Scrooge says about poor people, and was meant as a joke; albiet one in questionable taste.

[Dudel]

*stops digging his grave* Oh... well, then.

[Foster]

Unsurprisingly, self-defense claims have tripled in Florida since it was put in place. Its the perfect criminal defence, you can gun down someone then say you were just standing your ground. Fuck, technically whole gang wars would be perfectly legal thanks to this law, they're all 'standing their ground' right?

That... may not be a bad idea...

I mean, at least they all died an hero without draining taxdollars, right?

It's when they miss and hit someone in the back that things get funky.

So... if self-defense went up... did muggings, rapes, and murders go down?
-Or did that go up too?

[mdk]

That... may not be a bad idea...

I mean, at least they all died an hero without draining taxdollars, right?

It's when they miss and hit someone in the back that things get funky.

So... if self-defense went up... did muggings, rapes, and murders go down?
-Or did that go up too?

According to a Texas A&M study, Homicides go up, crime does not go down.