‘Stand-your-ground’ laws questioned

The Trayvon Martin tragedy is shining a national spotlight on “stand your ground” laws in at least 21 states.

The laws – in places such as Texas, Idaho and Alaska – allow everyday citizens to use deadly force against someone else if they fear for their life. They also say people do not have to retreat if threatened or attacked.

“You want to know how you can kill somebody legally in Florida?” says Arthur Hayhoe, executive director of the Florida Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. “Make sure you have no witnesses, hunt the person down and then say you feared for your life.”

Hayhoe says he has about a dozen cases on his desk now similar to the case of Trayvon Martin, who was shot dead in Florida while returning home from a convenience store. Hayhoe says in those cases gunmen say they were defending themselves, leaving grieving relatives to wonder why the shooters have not been charged.

Florida’s “stand-your-ground” law emerged after a man shot and killed a burglar who officials say was trying to break into the man’s RV in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan in 2005. The man waited months before learning he would not be charged with murder.

The case inspired then-florida state senator Durell Peaden, a Republican, to introduce a bill dealing with similar situations. Florida state representative Dennis Baxley, the bill’s House sponsor, said the law empowers people to defend themselves and should not be challenged in the wake of the Trayvon Martin case.

“Every time you have an adverse incident, immediately the antigun faction will say this law is the problem,” Baxley, a Republican, said, adding that violent crime in Florida has dropped since its implementation. “As public policy, it is fulfilling its purpose and working well. The perpetrators know everyone has the right to defend themselves. ... I think that has been a strong deterrent.”

Since the law was enacted in 2005, the number of justifiable homicides in Florida has skyrocketed, said state Senator Oscar Braynon, a Democrat who represents the area in Miami where Trayvon lived with his mother. In 2005, there were 43 such cases; in 2009, the last complete year available, there were 105, he said.

Nationally, justifiable homicides by private citizens have been slowly rising since 2005. The number in 2010, the last full year measured by the FBI, showed 278 such killings, the most in 15 years. The FBI uses a more restrictive methodology than Florida, only counting those people who are slain during the commission of felony.