Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
In all the media coverage of the George Zimmerman trial, I do not recall anyone posing the pertinent question: "What if Trayvon Martin had been carrying a firearm? Would he have been justified in using deadly force to 'stand his ground' when he was lawfully where he had a right to be and was accosted by George Zimmerman?"
In President Obama's remarks today on Trayvon Martin, he posed the pertinent question. Lawyers are like that.
In discussing “stand your ground” laws, the President said:
I know that there’s been commentary about the fact that the stand your ground laws in Florida were not used as a defense in the case. [Note: It was incorporated into the jury instructions.]
On the other hand, if we’re sending a message as a society in our communities that someone who is armed potentially has the right to use those firearms even if there’s a way for them to exit from a situation, is that really going to be contributing to the kind of peace and security and order that we’d like to see?
And for those who resist that idea that we should think about something like these “stand your ground” laws, I just ask people to consider if Trayvon Martin was of age and armed, could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk? And do we actually think that he would have been justified in shooting Mr. Zimmerman, who had followed him in a car, because he felt threatened?
And if the answer to that question is at least ambiguous, it seems to me that we might want to examine those kinds of laws.
Chew on that question for a while Mr. and Mrs. NRA who defend "stand your ground" laws.
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