The way it will be when we get rid of Stand Your Ground Laws.
By: Blue Falcon
Most States have some form of Stand Your Ground Law. Referred to as Castle Doctrine, Stand Your Ground, or simply no duty to retreat, states have codified the English Common law premise that a person has the right to defend of his person, family, his property and others.
This has led to tragedies in the past and it is necessary that these Draconian laws be expunged from our system of justice. Case in point, the tragic death of Trayvon Martin, where an innocent young man out for a walk was brutally murdered in an act of racially motivated violence, but when it went to trial even though jury members believed it was premeditated their hands were tied by the wording of an unjust law and they had to acquit the murderer.
Many States are now reviewing these laws at the behest of their citizens. Citizens groups across the nation are demanding that these outdated immoral laws be repealed. When we accomplish this mission things will be very different.
Case 1: In New York City (where duty to retreat is already the law) a Salvation Army thrift store was held up by a man wielding a pipe, who leapt over the counter and demanded money, but was met with resistance from the cashier, who physically stopped the perpetrator. When Police they took the store clerk into custody for battery of the customer. True.
Case 2: In Selma, Alabama a man walks into a lunch counter and seats himself, much to the chagrin of the occupants. The counterman walks out, tells him he may not eat there, and orders him to leave. The man says that he has every right to be there and he refuses to leave. The counterman grabs the man, jerks him out of his seat and pushes him toward the door. The man turns toward the counterman and pushes him, he stumbles and falls backward hitting his head on the corner of a table. He is rushed to the ER where he is pronounced dead on arrival. The man is tried and convicted of manslaughter the charge of first degree murder being rejected by the jury, since even though he did not retreat they could not conclude that the homicide was premeditated. Hypothetical.
Case 3: Your home is set back of the road and rather isolated because that’s the way you like it. You are downstairs raiding the fridge when the front door bursts open and you are confronted by an armed man. You retreat out the back door and realize that you are barefoot, without your cell phone and your car keys. You begin running down the half mile drive that lends to your seclusion, cutting and tearing your feet as you go. You hardly notice because all you can think of is your wife and daughter asleep upstairs. Reaching the road you hope for a car to be passing, but none appear. Realizing that your nearest neighbor is two miles away you run as fast as you can toward their home. Fifteen minutes after your door was broken through, you begin pounding on your neighbor’s door. They respond and allow you to call 9-1-1. After about thirty-five minutes you receive a call that you should stay where you are and not return home and that the police will come and pick you up. In the morning you go to the morgue to identify the mutilated bodies. Are you a suspect? Hypothetical.
Case 4: In that Utopian State Airstrip One I mean Great Britton a woman stands at her kitchen sink washing dishes when she notices a prowler climbing over her fence. Since guns are outlawed she grabs a kitchen knife to defend herself. When the Police arrive she is arrested, charged, tried, convicted and imprisoned for assault with a deadly weapon. True.
Yes with the repeal of self-defense laws the world will be a better place, for criminals!
By: Blue Falcon
Most States have some form of Stand Your Ground Law. Referred to as Castle Doctrine, Stand Your Ground, or simply no duty to retreat, states have codified the English Common law premise that a person has the right to defend of his person, family, his property and others.
This has led to tragedies in the past and it is necessary that these Draconian laws be expunged from our system of justice. Case in point, the tragic death of Trayvon Martin, where an innocent young man out for a walk was brutally murdered in an act of racially motivated violence, but when it went to trial even though jury members believed it was premeditated their hands were tied by the wording of an unjust law and they had to acquit the murderer.
Many States are now reviewing these laws at the behest of their citizens. Citizens groups across the nation are demanding that these outdated immoral laws be repealed. When we accomplish this mission things will be very different.
Case 1: In New York City (where duty to retreat is already the law) a Salvation Army thrift store was held up by a man wielding a pipe, who leapt over the counter and demanded money, but was met with resistance from the cashier, who physically stopped the perpetrator. When Police they took the store clerk into custody for battery of the customer. True.
Case 2: In Selma, Alabama a man walks into a lunch counter and seats himself, much to the chagrin of the occupants. The counterman walks out, tells him he may not eat there, and orders him to leave. The man says that he has every right to be there and he refuses to leave. The counterman grabs the man, jerks him out of his seat and pushes him toward the door. The man turns toward the counterman and pushes him, he stumbles and falls backward hitting his head on the corner of a table. He is rushed to the ER where he is pronounced dead on arrival. The man is tried and convicted of manslaughter the charge of first degree murder being rejected by the jury, since even though he did not retreat they could not conclude that the homicide was premeditated. Hypothetical.
Case 3: Your home is set back of the road and rather isolated because that’s the way you like it. You are downstairs raiding the fridge when the front door bursts open and you are confronted by an armed man. You retreat out the back door and realize that you are barefoot, without your cell phone and your car keys. You begin running down the half mile drive that lends to your seclusion, cutting and tearing your feet as you go. You hardly notice because all you can think of is your wife and daughter asleep upstairs. Reaching the road you hope for a car to be passing, but none appear. Realizing that your nearest neighbor is two miles away you run as fast as you can toward their home. Fifteen minutes after your door was broken through, you begin pounding on your neighbor’s door. They respond and allow you to call 9-1-1. After about thirty-five minutes you receive a call that you should stay where you are and not return home and that the police will come and pick you up. In the morning you go to the morgue to identify the mutilated bodies. Are you a suspect? Hypothetical.
Case 4: In that Utopian State Airstrip One I mean Great Britton a woman stands at her kitchen sink washing dishes when she notices a prowler climbing over her fence. Since guns are outlawed she grabs a kitchen knife to defend herself. When the Police arrive she is arrested, charged, tried, convicted and imprisoned for assault with a deadly weapon. True.
Yes with the repeal of self-defense laws the world will be a better place, for criminals!
