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Craven Statehouse Behavior
Despite all the lethal mayhem caused by the Stand Your Ground laws now on the books in nearly two dozen states, the gun lobby is inviting more trouble.
In Georgia, for instance, a pernicious bill approved by the House authorizes an array of dangerous laissez-faire gun provisions. One would allow convicted felons who kill someone with an illegally possessed gun to seek justification under the state’s Stand Your Ground law. A second would allow concealed guns on college campuses, despite the opposition of 78 percent of polled Georgians.
In Florida, meanwhile, despite mounting incidents of vigilante justice, the Legislature not only defends the Stand Your Ground provision that was involved in the notorious shooting of the unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, but it is actively considering other risky measures.
- Snip -
The pro-gun zealots who occupy the statehouses appeared to let up after the schoolhouse gun massacre in Newtown, Conn., in 2012. But as the country enters a new election cycle, the gun lobby is prodding lawmakers for even more advantageous laws, despite growing evidence that Stand Your Ground, far from protecting the public, hobbles prosecutors and gives defense lawyers unwarranted leeway to invoke self-defense in a mockery of law and order.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/opinion/craven-statehouse-behavior.html?emc=edit_th_20140315&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=31465010&_r=1
In Georgia, for instance, a pernicious bill approved by the House authorizes an array of dangerous laissez-faire gun provisions. One would allow convicted felons who kill someone with an illegally possessed gun to seek justification under the state’s Stand Your Ground law. A second would allow concealed guns on college campuses, despite the opposition of 78 percent of polled Georgians.
In Florida, meanwhile, despite mounting incidents of vigilante justice, the Legislature not only defends the Stand Your Ground provision that was involved in the notorious shooting of the unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, but it is actively considering other risky measures.
- Snip -
The pro-gun zealots who occupy the statehouses appeared to let up after the schoolhouse gun massacre in Newtown, Conn., in 2012. But as the country enters a new election cycle, the gun lobby is prodding lawmakers for even more advantageous laws, despite growing evidence that Stand Your Ground, far from protecting the public, hobbles prosecutors and gives defense lawyers unwarranted leeway to invoke self-defense in a mockery of law and order.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/opinion/craven-statehouse-behavior.html?emc=edit_th_20140315&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=31465010&_r=1
The Second Amendment absolutist argument that we have always had the equivalent to the self-defense principal of SYG does not explain the fact that "justifiable homicide" rates have increased dramatically (over 200% in Florida and 83% in Georgia) since the enactment of vigilante-enabling SYG laws.
These obscene SYG laws coupled with equally repulsive shall-issue CCW laws which do not screen out wife beaters, drunks, bullies, and other anti-social "moral character" issues, are responsible for the Zimmermans and Dunns roaming our streets prepared to dispense SYG vigilante justice at the drop of a Skittles bag or the playing of a radio while black.
The right-wing financed pro-gun lobby must be countered with Liberal voices and money. Those self-proclaimed "Conservative Democrat" politicians must be replaced with Liberal candidates who sincerely wish to combat the public health menace which is caused by the NRA/Republican/Libertarian greed-motivated proliferation of guns on our streets.