Florida’s "Stand Your Ground" /"Shoot First"—Amounts to a new form of lynch laws

George Zimmerman, 28, claims he shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin last month in self-defence. He was chasing down Martin as he walked to a house in a white gated community. In the confrontation he asked the black youth what he was doing there. They had an argument he shot the teen.

Thanks to a law that Florida passed, and supported by the NRA, carrying a gun and using it for self defence amounts to a license to kill. Just as in the old south with their lynch laws, we could only guess that it wouldn’t be long before white bigots found a legal way to kill what they used to call “uppity niggers.”

Zimmerman said the man looked suspicious. To call a black teen walking in an upper class white neighbourhood suspicious can only mean that a young black in that neighbourhood looked suspicious. It is pure bigotry and murder.

The law makes it perfectly legal to shoot and kill some one on the street, armed or unarmed. If there are no witnesses, the killer says he felt threatened and gets off “Scot free.”

According to USA Today;

“Authorities may be limited by a state law that allows people to defend themselves with deadly force.

Under the old law, people could use deadly force in self-defense only if they had tried to run away or otherwise avoid the danger. Under the new law, there is no duty to retreat and it gives a Floridian the right "to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force," if he feels threatened.

Florida was the first state to pass a "Stand Your Ground" law, which has been dubbed a "Shoot First" law by gun control advocates.”

This law goes way beyond the freedom to own a gun. It removes any accountability to those who pack guns. Gov. Jeb Bush signed this into law. Considering how stupid his brother is and some of the in-bread read-necks that Florida is known for, this is not surprising. -សតិវ អតុ