One law I will forever remember is the “Stand Your Ground” law. This law has been around for some time now but many people including myself have only recently learned of this law, because of a very emotional case in Florida involving ,George Zimmerman” murdering a 17 year old unarmed boy named “Trayvon Martin. ” Stand your ground law was actually passed October 1, 2005. Ironically Florida was the first state to pass (Stand your ground law) and now Florida is the state that is making this law a nationwide topic.
This law is one that people will abuse, we have already seen proof and I am sure that minorities are against this law more so than Whites are. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush (R) signed the Stand your ground law after it passed 39-0 in the state senate and 94-20 in the state house. This new law has changed the legal definition of self-defense for people that claim they are in fear for their lives. We now have situations like the case I referred to at the beginning of my essay.
It was already hard dealing with our young Black men being profiled for the clothes they were, or looking like they do not belong in a certain part of town. Stand your ground now says if you think someone was going to do something to you, or if you start a fight but start to lose it is alright to kill a person and the law will back you up one hundred percent. The National Rifle Association (NRA) lobbied hard for the law to pass, while law enforcement officials like Miami’s police chief opposed it.
The Essay on Florida State University
Florida State University is more than just a world-class academic institution preparing you for a future career. We are a caring community of well-rounded individuals who embrace leadership, learning, service, and global awareness. With this in mind, which of these characteristics appeal most to you and why? In order to prepare for a future career, I would need a good base of leadership and global ...
As soon as the bill was signed into Florida, the NRA’s vice president, Wayne Lapierre, said his organization would use the victory to promote the law everywhere. Within weeks a proposed statue with almost the exact wording of the Florida law was adopted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
American Legislative Exchange Council method is to model; bills to sympathetic state lawmakers, mostly conservative Republicans who than sponsor them in their statehouses. As a result 23 states have followed Florida’s lead in passing “Stand Your Ground” law.
Chief Timoney, who successfully pushed his police officers to use less deadly force publicly made a statement. He said “Many people including children could become innocent victims. The bill could make gun owners;in cluding drivers with road rage or drunken sports fans who get into fights leaving ball games, assume they have total immunity. ” “Whether it is trick-or-treaters or kids playing in the yard of someone that does not want them there, or some drunken guy stumbling into the wrong house, you are encouraging people to possibly, use deadly force where it should not be used.
As we can see the chief was right. Travon Martin was just the first of a few kids that have been killed because this senseless law is in place. Stand your ground in my opinion is a way for the law to pay less attention to our Black people getting killed. This law can be changed if people stick together and protest Florida as a lot of people stated they were going to do. Without people continuing to protest this will be swept under the rug and we will continue to have cases like George Zimmerman killing innocent kids like Travon Martin.
