EOC Week 2: Stand Your Ground.

A “Stand your ground” law states that a person may use deadly force in self-defense without the duty to retreat when faced with a reasonable perceived threat. This Law becomes even more specific with the “Castle doctrine,” which says that a person is protected under the law to use deadly force in self-defense when his or her property or home is being invaded.  More than half of the states have “Stand your ground” and “Castle doctrine” written in their book, states such as:

·         Alabama

·         Arizona

·         Florida

·         Georgia

·         Indiana

·         Kentucky

·         Louisiana

·         Mississippi

·         Montana

·         Nevada

·         New Hampshire

·         Oklahoma

·         Pennsylvania

·         Tennessee

·         Texas

·         Utah

“Other states may have adopted a stand your ground doctrine through judicial interpretation of their self-defense laws” (http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-law-basics/states-that-have-stand-your-ground-laws.html) This law is of great relevance of me since I am one of the residents of one of the states that put “Stand your ground” law in practice. This law came to the attention to the general public recently thanks to the Zimmerman Trial. “Zimmerman claimed he killed Martin in self-defense, and under Florida’s “Stand your ground” law he was not arrested on the night of Martin’s death.” (http://www.usnews.com/debate-club/are-stand-your-ground-laws-a-good-idea).   I have looked over and read the entire law and still I’m in a bias position. "This bill actually encourages people to shoot their way out of situations and that's not how we live in a civilized society," (Florida Senate Democratic leader Chris Smith http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/19/us-usa-florida-shooting-lawmakers-idUSBRE96I05020130719) On one hand the bill suggest that one just has to think it’s under attack in order to defend oneself, when one is under a stressful situation one thinks the entire world is trying to attack them.  “Bad People are armed and stand their ground, and good people must be able to do so as well.” (Rich Morthland, member of the Illinois House of Representative http://www.usnews.com/debate-club/are-stand-your-ground-laws-a-good-idea) When one is truly under attack, that person should be able to defend themselves from whatever is attacking them since their lives could depend on it. So are “stand your ground” laws a good idea?