GateHouse Media
September 20, 2019
This past week in Rockdale County, Georgia, three masked
teenagers - ages 15, 16 and 16 - allegedly tried to rob three individuals in
front of their home.
One of the teens allegedly fired a shot in the direction of
the would-be robbery victims. None of them were hurt, but, and this is a big
but, one of the targeted victims returned fire and killed all three of the
retreating teens.
Georgia allows people to take deadly action when they have a
reasonable belief it is necessary to protect themselves or others from death or
serious injury, or to prevent a felony that involves the use or threat of
physical force.
In 2005, Florida passed the first stand-your-ground law
expanding on what was known as the Castle Doctrine. The Castle Doctrine
permitted the use of deadly force within one’s home without first attempting to
retreat.
Florida’s stand-your-ground law stated “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.” Georgia’s law mirrors the Florida statute.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures,
laws in at least 25 states provide that there is no duty to retreat from an
attacker anywhere in which one is lawfully present. At least 10 of those states
have language stating one may stand his or her ground.
Research published several years ago in the Journal of the
American Medical Association suggests that stand-your-ground increased homicide
rates. Soon after the law took effect in Florida, there was a sudden and
sustained 24% jump in the monthly homicide rate - the rate of homicides caused
by firearms increased by 32%.
An investigation last year by the Tampa Bay Times, a Florida
newspaper, found that the rate of homicides declared justifiable tripled in the
five years after the passage of stand-your-ground.
More than 11 million Americans now have concealed carry
permits. Stand-your-ground and the proliferation of gun ownership has increased
the potential for unnecessary violent confrontations.
Professor Ronald L. Carlson of the University of Georgia,
told The New York Times that the Georgia law provides that someone may “use
whatever force to protect themselves if a felonious assault is about to be made
upon him,” and is not obligated to retreat.
According to the Washington Post, the Georgia case joins a
national debate over stand-your-ground laws fueled by high-profile cases. The
Florida law came under scrutiny after the police invoked it in declining to
arrest George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin.
In 2012, 17-year-old Martin was shot and killed by Zimmerman
after Martin allegedly punched Zimmerman, slammed his head against the sidewalk
and knocked him to the ground. The outrage that followed Zimmerman’s acquittal
helped launch Black Lives Matter. As for Zimmerman he had several brushes with
the law after the trial, including assaultive behavior.
Not all cases have ended the way Zimmerman’s did. Last year,
a Florida jury convicted Michael Drejka of manslaughter for shooting Markeis
McGlockton in the parking lot of a convenience store in Clearwater, Florida.
Drejka unsuccessfully sought the protection of Florida’s stand-your-ground law.
Maybe the senseless loss of three young lives in a Georgia
neighborhood will cause lawmakers to rethink the idea that gun slinging is the
answer to America’s ills.
Matthew T. Mangino is of counsel with Luxenberg, Garbett,
Kelly & George P.C. His book The Executioner’s Toll, 2010 was released by
McFarland Publishing. You can reach him at www.mattmangino.com and follow him
on Twitter @MatthewTMangino.
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