IF
YOU COME TO FLORIDA.... Do not argue unnecessarily with
local people (STAND YOUR GROUND LAW or SHOOT FIRST LAW
went into effect October 1, 2005) ThinkingBlue
PS:
Read a compassionate conservative's view on this law (at
bottom)
Tell
Governor Bush he made a mistake. The people of Florida
deserve better than to be gunned down by the
short-tempered and trigger-happy. They deserve better
than to have the law put into the hands of private
citizens.
Tell your governor that deadly force is not a game, and
isn't something to be taken lightly and that taking a
human life should never be our first choice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On
October 1, 2005, Florida becomes a more dangerous place.
That's when the Shoot First Law goes into effect, giving
the people of Florida the right to use deadly force as a
first resort when they feel threatened, even in a public
place. But the Shoot First doctrine isn't just staying in
Florida — it's about to become a national disgrace.
In a country where thousands
die needlessly every year in gun accidents and violent
confrontations, this law is an enormous step backwards in
civic responsibility and public safety. What's more, it
envisions a society in which fear and distrust are the
rule, and reason and responsibility are an endangered
species.
If you live in Florida, or
plan on visiting Florida, get the facts on the Shoot
First Law. Know when you're safe, and how to avoid
misunderstandings. Learn about when the people of Florida
can shoot to kill... and when they think they can.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gun
control group targets Florida's tourist industry
MIAMI (AP) — Clark Ramm sees shades of the Wild West
in Florida's new law giving greater legal protections to
people who shoot or use other deadly force when
threatened or attacked.
"It seems like everybody ought to be packing a
piece," said Ramm, a visitor from Ukiah, Calif., who
found out about the law Monday from a gun control group
handing out leaflets at Miami International Airport.
"I don't know if that's the right thing to do."
The
leaflets begin with the words "An Important Notice
to Florida Visitors" in bold red type by the Brady
Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
"Do
not argue unnecessarily with local people," it says.
"If someone appears to be angry with you, maintain
to the best of your ability a positive attitude, and do
not shout or make threatening gestures."
Florida's
"stand your ground" law, which took effect
Saturday, means that people no longer must attempt to
retreat or defuse a threatening situation before using
violence in order to later claim they were acting in
self-defense. People already had that right in their
homes, but the law now allows them to meet "force
with force" in any place they have a legal right to
be.
The right to "stand your ground" does not apply
if the person is confronted by a law enforcement officer.
Proponents
of the measure, pushed by the National Rifle Association,
say it will make Florida a safer place, not more
dangerous. Gov. Jeb Bush has repeatedly pointed to a
34-year low in state crime statistics to demonstrate that
Florida is not a haven for violence.
"It's pure, unadulterated politics," Bush said
last week of the Brady Campaign's tactics. "Shame on
them."
The
Florida tourism industry, however, is taking the campaign
seriously, with Visit Florida — the state's official
tourism marketing arm — issuing a statement calling
Florida "a very safe and secure destination that
excels in caring for its visitors."
"We
believe that Americans and international visitors are
smart enough to understand that the Brady Campaign is one
group's political agenda and not a real safety
issue," the statement said.
Florida hosts more than 1 million visitors on any given
day, with nearly 80 million tourists visiting the state
in 2004, according to Visit Florida.
The
Brady Campaign leaflets, which the group intends to hand
out for about a month at the Miami and Orlando airports,
call the measure the "Shoot First" law and urge
people to "take sensible precautions" while
visiting the state.
"There
is no other state in the nation — and no other
civilized nation on Earth — that has a law like
this," said Brady Campaign spokesman Peter Hamm.
"It could cause the most aggressive people in
society to overreact."
The
group also has taken out ads in major Detroit, Chicago,
Boston and London newspapers about the new Florida law.
Several
people who got the leaflets at the Miami airport on
Monday appeared taken aback by the new law.
"It's
a little scary," said Melissa Vosberg, on her way
home to the Chicago area after a cruise in the Bahamas.
"It's 'shoot first, ask about it later.'"
The
Shoot First Lawis
an invitation to reckless use of guns in the streets of
our cities and towns. Without the law, people carrying
firearms in public places could use those guns against
perceived threats only as a last resort. The new law
eliminates a citizen's duty to avoid the threat, and
allows the use of deadly force before other options.
Below is some legal context to the new Shoot First
statute. It is not a comprehensive analysis of all laws
on this subject, or all the situations that may arise
under the law.
The Duty to Retreat
According to a leading legal text, "It is a
well-established rule that in order to justify or excuse
a homicide on the ground of self defense, the slayer must
have employed all means in his power, consistent with his
own safety, to avoid danger and avert the necessity of
taking another's life in order to protect himself."
AmJur Homicide, Section 161. A person threatened other
than in his own home or place of business is not
justified in taking the life of the assailant, if a safe
avenue of retreat is open to him. AmJur Homicide, Section
163.
The New Florida Law
The new Florida Shoot First law eliminates the duty to
retreat and allows a person not engaged in unlawful
activity who is attacked in a public place to "stand
his or her ground" and use 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 to another person or to prevent the commission of a
forcible felony." Thus, even if the shooter could
have safely avoided the threat by walking away or seeking
refuge elsewhere, the Shoot First law permits him to
shoot the assailant and gives him immunity from criminal
prosecution and civil suit if he does so.
The Florida statute was passed over the strong objections
of law enforcement officials and prosecutors. Broward
County Sheriff Ken Jenne opposed the law because
"it's easy to say after the fact, I felt
threatened." Willie Meggs, President of the Florida
Prosecuting Attorneys Association, said prosecutors are
"concerned that it will provide a defense to someone
who uses force that doesn't necessarily have to be
done."
Seeking Out Danger
Under the "Shoot First" law, as long as the
shooter "is not engaged in unlawful activity"
and is "attacked in any other place where he or she
has a right to be" the shooter has the right to use
deadly force. Therefore, if a fistfight escalates to
lethal violence, the shooter could receive immunity under
the law even if he initiated the confrontation, as long
as he "reasonably believed" that firing the gun
was necessary to prevent a "forcible felony" or
"great bodily harm" to himself.
Sweeping Immunity for Negligent Shooters
The Shoot First law provides for broad immunity from
civil suits and criminal prosecution for shooters who
reasonably believed the use of deadly force was necessary
to prevent bodily harm or prevent a forcible felony.
Nothing in the law would preserve the right of an
innocent bystander who was shot in the incident to pursue
a civil action against the shooter for negligence in the
handling of a firearm. The shooter could receive immunity
for shooting recklessly into a crowd, as long as he
reasonably believed he was in serious danger.
A
COMPANIONATE CONSERVATIVE'S VIEWPOINT ON THIS... WHAT
ELSE IS NEW...typical warmongering gung-ho response from
a nutty trigger-happy smuglican? ThinkingBlue
By
Doug Giles Oct 1, 2005 Talk show host and columnist
“.
. . if you do that which is evil, be afraid.”
1 Rom.13.4
As
of this Saturday, October 1, 2005, the law abiding
citizens of Florida have been “given back” the
already God-given, Constitution-given and no-duh-right to
defend themselves, and if need be, use deadly force in so
doing. That’s right . . . if you decide to
rape, rob, car jack or accost a Floridian, you might want
to think twice about that brain fart, as that may be the
last thing you do before your soul wings its way to
Hades.
If
you’re the little weed contemplating these things,
you should reflect a bit longer on the wisdom of this
course of violent action, because we the people can now
wale on you and be protected from criminal prosecution
and/or an inane civil suit.
Here’s
what Floridians are now afforded via The Castle Doctrine.
This beautiful new law basically gives the average Joe
who gets criminally assaulted while minding his own
beeswax three essentials things:
1. It
establishes, by law, the presumption that if a moron has
the moxie to forcibly enter my home or vehicle that he is
probably not there to borrow sugar, rather to cause death
or bodily harm. Therefore, I can either impale said
dipstick, on a sword, or dust him with 00 Buck, or unload
my Sig in his surprised face, or double tap his center
mass with my .450/400-3 ¼ Nitro Express double rifle I
bought to hunt Africa’s most deadliest game.
Yes, beginning this Saturday, good Floridian men can put
down bad foolish men who violate the sanctity of our
Castles.
2. It
removes my duty to turn the other cheek and runaway when
I’m being attacked. Look, if bloggers,
columnists and radio show hosts want to have fun at my
expense, I have no other recourse but to absorb their
personal insults, laugh it off and not go postal, i.e.,
to turn the other cheek. However, if my family, or
I or others in my vicinity are being physically assaulted
in a place in which we have a perfect right to be, then I
can stand my ground and drop the assailant to the
pavement if I have reason to believe he intends to do us
bodily harm. Matthew 5:39 does not apply to
rapists, burglars, attempted murderers, gangbangers,
terrorists or similar stooges.
3. In
addition, after the deceased violent aggressor’s
spirit is tooling its way to Dante’s slow roast BBQ
and I’m comforting my family and friends as I wipe
gun powder residue off my hands, thanks to The Castle
Doctrine, I can rest assured that I am protected from a
therapeutic culture and the soulless lawyers it has
spawned. Imagine that . . . a law on the side of a
law abiding person. It’s crazy!
You
know, it’s not a cheerful thought, but think of the
reverb that’ll shoot through criminal communities in
the Sunshine State when one of their ilk gets killed by a
good citizen for trying to be tough guy.
What
do you think the still living idiot friends of the
deceased punk are going to think when they learn that
their 19-year old Darwinian-holdover buddy got Glocked by
a young woman who refused to be raped by him? Think
of the empowerment that this theoretical babe will give
to other chicas minding their own business, as she leads
the pack by not taking any crud from
criminals—Castle Doctrine style!
Imagine
the laughter of the cackling fools ceasing when instead
of bringing home video footage of their friends beating
and kicking an old man in the parking lot of a Target for
fun, they have on their memory stick a 35 second blip of
a retiree laying one of their multi-tattooed lads to rest
with a Smith & Wesson 686. Oops! Now you
little wannabe criminals didn’t plan on that
happening this evening, did you?
In
addition, won’t it be a relief to see bloodless
lawyers no longer having a psychobabble, legalese,
this-is-why-my-client-robbed-raped-burgled-or-murdered
leg to stand on?
Won’t
it be liberating to not hear on the local news that the
perpetrator was actually the victim, and the one who
defended himself is evil?
Aren’t
you getting sick of hearing how the felon was not
responsible for his crime because he had low blood sugar,
abnormal peer pressure, societal oppression, or that he
didn’t get enough attention during his delicate
years, was off his meds and was not aware of the
ramifications of such criminal mischief because George W.
Bush under funded his education? Isn’t it freeing to
now know that you can protect your person and property
instead of helplessly running from bad people, bad judges
and bad lawyers?
Yes,
thanks to Sen. Durrell Peaden and Rep. Dennis Baxley, the
law’s sponsors, and Gov. Jeb Bush, who signed the
bill into law, The Castle Doctrine has now gone into
effect, and I guarantee we will begin to see the sun set
on those who would do harm in the Sunshine State.
Only
those who do evil need to be afraid.
*
Logon to ClashRadio.com and pick up a copy of Giles’
latest teaching DVD, Ruling in Babylon, filmed before a
very live audience in Cape Town, South Africa.
Also, check out Doug’s interview with the
“father” of Compassionate Conservatism, Marvin
Olasky.
UPDATE: March 22, 2012" Via
NPR.org: "Now that 911 recordings show how a white
Florida man continued to follow a 17-year-old black boy
even after police advised him not to — and captured
the sound of the man killing the unarmed youth with a
shot to the chest — Trayvon Martin's family wants
the FBI to take over the investigation into his
killing...".* Cenk Uygur, former prosecutor Steve
Oh, and Misty Kingma break down the shocking 911 audio
with shooter George Zimmerman on The Young Turks.
“Socialism never took root in America
because the poor see themselves not as an exploited
proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed
millionaires.”
- John Steinbeck
