Repeal or Amend ?

          The Stand Your Ground law could use some changes and additions to its' regulations in order to prevent the amount of deaths from increasing even more. A couple of protests have gone on about repealing the law, but would this be a good idea? 
          If the stand your ground law happened to be repealed, and a person's house got broken into, that person would be obligated to leave their home instead of defending themselves. Guster (2012) stated that amending the law would allow change by adding language to prevent certain situations from repeating.
         This law would then make it so the actual attacker would not be able to hide behind this defense law, which goes back to the case against Zimmerman. By amending the Stand Your Ground law, it would include more regulations and changes as to how a person can utilize it. If more states amended this law, then America would not be going down this path where murder is okay and no type of punishment is given out.
         I strongly agree that this law should consist of being able to use deadly force but only if a person is absolutely unable to retreat and flee the scene.
       

Racial Bias

State Cases & Racial Bias

Figure 1. Gun  Violence. (2012).
Gun Violence. Retrieved from: http://
www.flickr.com/photos 

         Many debates have been carried on across the nation about the Stand Your Ground Law. The Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman case may have not been the only case dealing with this law, but it was the spark of the debates and discussion across our nation. This case was controversial because a young man was pursued and gunned down by a man who disregarded clear instructions given by the police before killing him (Epps, 2012). ). People across the nation protested against this case because they felt that there was no justice found in the trial.
          In relation to this case, an African American woman in Florida fired warning shots and was sentenced  prison 20 years for aggravated assault. These cases were definitely different but similar in a couple of ways. The Stand Your Ground law was claimed in both cases. Someone's life was taken in one case and the defendant walked away free of no punishment. In the other case, no one's life was taken, but yet, a lady was sentenced to 20 years for defending herself.
         Fact is, race was used on Zimmerman's based on the emergency call, but as far as the actual trial goes, that cannot be proven. There is certainly some racial bias going on these cases.

    

Standing Your Ground




Figure 1. Justified Shootings (2013).

Florida Justified Shootings. Retrieved

from: http://www.peacock-panache.

com/2013/07/Zimmerman-stand-your-

ground-and-broken.html 

       We all should be familiar with the Stand Your Ground Law. This law removes a person's duty to retreat before using deadly force against another in any place that they have the legal right to be (Lee, 2012).This law was first enacted in 2005 in the state of Florida. There are pros and cons to be considered about this law such as its' few regulations, racial bias, and use of deadly force for protection.
        In my opinion, this law holds little or no justice for victims that are pursued in these deadly situations. These are things people should think about and take into consideration when it comes down to this law. Many people don't realize the major points of this law that can cause an innocent person's life to be taken.
       A great number of states enacted the Stand Your Ground law, but I believe that there should be more regulations to make the law stricter. The death rates increased greatly in the state of Florida after this law was enacted. Statistics show and prove that this law needs regulations in order for the death rate of this state to go down. These changes will also decrease the number of people walking away free with no charges for murder.
         All citizens need to think do we as a country want keep going down this path of free will to kill. 

References

Epps, G., (2012). The history of Florida’s “stand your ground” law. Retrieved from: http://prospect.org/article/history-floridas-stand-your-ground-law

Lee, S., (2012). Five ‘stand your ground’ cases you should know about. Retrieved from: http://propublica.org/article/five-stand-your-ground-cases-you -should-know-about