By Chris Wagoner:
There are countless articles and posts, some very recent because of the surge of pro-firearms rights bills getting submitted around the nation, attempting to make arguments for or against the so-called ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws in various states. Arguably the most famous ‘stand your ground’ case of all was George Zimmerman’s shooting of Trayvon Martin five years ago. As was reported in various news outlets, Martin attacked and attempted to kill Zimmerman by banging his head repeatedly on the ground.
Stand your ground was front page news back then, and people seemed to think it was a strange concept. Many in the anti-gun rights crowd can’t manage to understand it. When I read some of the comments or news reports out there, it is almost as if people do not understand what the Stand Your Ground laws even mean, or what they cover.
If you search for ‘Stand Your Ground’ in public databases in Florida or many states, you won’t find any results. You actually have to know where to look to find those words. The concept of Stand Your Ground, as well as the words themselves, actually comes from “use of force” laws. Self-defense laws from state to state are very similar in most cases; self-defense is a simple concept. Remember that self-defense is a common human right, even before and in addition to any rights given to you by the Constitution. It is also, however, a concept that many do not understand because they have been raised to be afraid and to run away rather than stand and fight.
A look at the relevant laws in Florida reveals that Stand Your Ground appears within issues of the “use of force” in Chapter 776.012. In Subsection (2):
A person is justified in using or threatening to use deadly force if he or she reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony. A person who uses or threatens to use deadly force in accordance with this subsection does not have a duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground if the person using or threatening to use the deadly force is not engaged in a criminal activity and is in a place where he or she has a right to be.
You will notice that it says, “A person who uses or threatens to use deadly force in accordance with this subsection does not have a duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground.” That is the extent of the legislation’s reference to Stand Your Ground. You see, the phrase means nothing more than this—if you are legally where you are allowed and are not committing a crime at that moment, you can use force, including deadly force, to defend yourself or another person, and do not have to run away. That is all Stand Your Ground really is. Now you know, and if you are the intelligent person that I think you are, that is not that difficult to understand. Although there is nothing wrong with running away in certain situations (sometimes it’s even recommended), you should not be required to try and run away or escape before you can defend yourself.
So, the next time you hear someone talking about how much Stand Your Ground has caused more shootings and killings, ask them to explain how not requiring a person to run away causes more injury and death. Then, tell them that if they really want to see the number of murders and injuries increase, take away firearms from lawfully carrying citizens and force them to attempt to flee before they can defend themselves or others. If that indeed was the law, we would have a few more dead law enforcement officers, as citizens would not have been able to defend the officers by standing their ground.
And back to the Martin/ Zimmerman case—I find it funny and have to just shake my head when people try to defend a person who was trying to beat another person to death, and the victim turned the tables and shot and killed his attacker.
Pretty simple case, actually, and the jury agreed.
Chris Wagoner is a Senior OpsLens Contributor and U.S. Army Veteran. He has been in law enforcement the last 35+ years. He specializes in LE Firearms Instruction, and is in charge of a large Police Academy in North Florida. In his spare time Chris is a freelance Military Reporter and owner/founder of the Largest Military Videos Channel on YouTube “3rdID8487”.
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