Stand your ground - a license to kill

5 Disturbing Facts About The State Of Stand Your Ground On The Second Anniversary Of Trayvon's Death (Read more by clicking on this heading)

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By Nicole Flatow and Rebecca Leber    on February 26, 2014 at 2:45 pm

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Trayvon Martin was shot and killed two years ago today while walking back from a convenience store carrying skittles and an iced tea, but no gun. When police initially declined to even arrest shooter George Zimmerman because of Florida's Stand Your Ground law, they shed national spotlight on the expansive National Rifle Association and American Legislative Exchange Council-backed law that removes any duty to attempt retreat before using deadly force in purported self-defense. After a national outcry, police charged Zimmerman 44 days later. But in the two years since, Zimmerman and many other shooters have gotten off without a single blip in their record, thanks at least in part to the aggressive self-defense laws that have proliferated around the nation.
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After Zimmerman was acquitted, President Barack Obama remarked in a powerful address on the state of race in America that "Trayvon could have been me 35 years ago" and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder declared that it's time to question Stand Your Ground laws. But the state of the law has remained largely the same, while a racially charged culture of vigilantism seems if anything to be gaining ground.
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Here are five shocking facts about the state of self-defense in America:
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1. Courts have granted immunity to a man who went back to his car to get a gun, and another who shot an acquaintance for threatening to beat him up. The Stand Your Ground law has now been infused into the self-defense jurisprudence in Florida and elsewhere, and comes into play in countless trials. [...]
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2. In Florida alone, 26 children and teens were killed in Stand Your Ground cases.[...]
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3. Florida and Georgia are considering an expansion of Stand Your Ground laws. At least 24 states have Stand Your Ground-like laws.[...]
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4. White-on-black homicides are 354 percent more likely to be ruled justified than white-on-white.[...]
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5. Shooters who successfully invoke Stand Your Ground get their guns back.[...]