Stand your Ground Laws – Should They Be Repealed [POLL]?

You had to figure that at some point the question was going to be posed as to whether the “stand your ground” laws, which were reportedly the crux of the defense of George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin shooting, needed to be repealed.

Perhaps we here in the Northeast take a dim view of laws where one can use deadly force upon another if the supposed victim feels his or her life is in danger.

The law reads as follows:

A person 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 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.

Is the law too broadbased, and do you feel it needs to be repealed?

I can answer that for you in one quick sentence.

No, and who are we to seek repeal Florida law.

According to this:
Speaking at the annual meting of the NAACP in Orlando, Fla. yesterday, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. strongly condemned “Stand your Ground” laws, saying they “senselessly expand the concept of self-defense” and may encourage “violent situations to escalate.”

The statutes, which have been enacted in more than 30 states, have become the focus of national debate since the shooting death of of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old African-American. Neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, was acquitted of murder charges in Martin's death on Saturday.

As The Washington Post reported, Zimmerman’s attorneys did not try to get the case dismissed based on Florida’s “stand your ground” law, which says people who feel threatened can defend themselves with deadly force and are not legally required to flee .

Still, the jury was instructed that as long as Zimmerman was not involved in an illegal activity and had a right to be where he was when the shooting occurred, “he had no duty to retreat and the right to stand his ground.”

“These laws try to fix something that was never broken,” Holder told the cheering delegates yesterday, as reported by The Washington Post. “The list of resulting tragedies is long and, unfortunately, has victimized too many who are innocent.”

But for all Holder's protestations, administration officials conceded yesterday there is little the Justice Department can do to actually change the laws, because they are state, rather than federal, statutes.

Thank you administration officials!