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Sen. Ted Cruz was a keynote speaker at ALEC's 2013 States and Nation Policy Summit.

BOSTON, Mass. (AP) - The mother of Trayvon Martin will speak at Harvard Law School about changing "stand your ground" self-defense laws. Sybrina Fulton will be joined by her attorney, Benjamin Crump, at Monday's event. Fulton's 17-year-old son was shot in central Florida in 2012 by George Zimmerman, who was acquitted of second-degree murder in July....

The Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW), multitudes of people of African descent and people of conscience and goodwill have not forgotten about the tragedy and travesty of the murder of Trayvon Martin. There is a deep seated feeling of injustice and lack of closure as the Justice Department has yet to render a decision whether to pursue civil rights violations in this case --a course which is highly unlikely. And, the “Stand Your Ground Law” which provided George Zimmerman the pretext to profile and ultimately murder Trayvon Martin with impunity is still in place. Despite a courageous...

A public records request by Gun Rights Examiner to review 10,000 signatures opposing adoption of a “Stand Your Ground” bill (H.B. No. 203) -- reportedly submitted by the Ohio Black Legislative Council to Gov. John Kasich -- was answered when a compact disc containing the information arrived in Thursday’s mail. Two who definitely aren’t Buckeyes are “Saddam Hussein” and “Osama Bin Ladin,” which brings to mind the fiasco of Michael Bloomberg's “No More Names” tour reading off the names of the Boston bomber and other criminals “killed by guns.” It’s safe to assume here that someone was having some fun...

American Program Bureau (APB) is proud to be named the exclusive speaking agency for Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, the parents of Trayvon Martin. Since the death of their son, Fulton and Martin have committed their lives to transforming tragedy into change, working to ensure the survival of every child through education and thoughtful conversations about conflict resolution. The publicity surrounding Trayvon's death and the ensuing trial catapulted the country into national debate. Facing increasing demands to speak publicly, Fulton and Martin are retaining the services of APB to schedule and manage their speaking engagements. Both Fulton and Martin are...

Grace Miranda and other supporters of Trayvon Martin rally in front of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s office to ask him to retract his support for the state’s “Stand your ground” gun law in April 2012. A panel of Florida lawmakers shot down a proposal to repeal the state's "Stand your ground" law but approved an amendment to allow immunity for those who fire a warning shot, the Tampa Bay Times reports. Nearly 300 people attended the vote to give their opinion on the controversial law that has been in the national spotlight and under intense scrutiny since the shooting of...

A committee of Florida lawmakers rejected a proposal to repeal the ''stand your ground'' self-defense law Thursday, following an hours-long hearing. The Florida House of Representatives Criminal Justice Subcommittee held a five-hour hearing starting at 3 p.m. to vote on a bill repealing the law granting individuals to use deadly force when they believe their life is in jeopardy. "Today, our state is a safer place and has the lowest crime rate in 42 years," Rep. Marti Coley, a Marianna Republican, said, according to the Tampa Bay Times. "Florida's 'stand your ground' law is solid. It's good and should not...

Question: Can you “stand your ground” according to halacha as George Zimmerman allegedly did when he killed Trayvon Martin? Answer: According to halacha, if someone is running after you to kill you, that person is classified as a rodef and you may kill him. However, this is only the case if you have no other option. If wounding the rodef is sufficient to stop him, you may not kill him. If you do nonetheless, you are a murderer (see Rambam, Hilchot Rotzei’ach 1:6,7) The Mishnah L’Melech, however, takes a different position (see his comments to the Rambam’s Hilchot Chovail U’Mazik...

The trouble started the night Jeff, one of the guys I drink and talk about God with, announced that he’d been summoned to court for the Zimmerman trial jury pool. We’d kept politics out of our Wednesday night meetings, which are held on my back porch, the six of us seated at an old dining room table propped next to my broken hot tub (Florida short-sale homes come standard with broken hot tubs). Instead of Bible Study, we call it our Tavern Ministry, and while we were often drunk halfway through, a churchlike decorum had always held sway. Once the...

Rather than addressing the crucial issue of reducing its own monstrous size before it crushes our society, the federal government held a hearing Tuesday as part of an attack on Stand Your Ground laws — an explicitly state matter. Fortunately Ted Cruz (R-TX) was at hand to lay utter waste to the liberal control freaks who have theatrically played the race card in their attempt to exploit the Trayvon Martin shooting as a means to undermine states’ rights and our individual right of self-defense. Cruz began by offering his condolences for [Trayvon Martin’s mother Sybrina] Fulton’s loss, but quickly moved...

In the past few months, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge has heard from constituents about everything from guns to immigration. But one concern is suddenly getting a lot more attention: glitches in the Affordable Care Act website. WKSU’s Kabir Bhatia reports. The redrawn 11th is an F-shaped congressional district that occupies a big chunk of Cuyahoga County, and then narrows down through the national park and into Summit County. It includes everything from East Cleveland to suburban Broadview Heights and Seven Hills, to downtown Akron, where Fudge held a town hall at the Akron Public Library Thursday. The three-term Democrat and president...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Stand Your Ground laws, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) argued the law benefits everyone, including African-Americans. Cruz also accused public leaders of exploiting Trayvon Martin’s death to inflame racial tensions....

Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, testified before a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Tuesday about “stand your ground” self-defense laws, reviving the contentious debate in Washington over such legislation. Fulton said she was there so that lawmakers could put a face on the tragedy that resulted in the loss of her son, who had just celebrated his 17th birthday three weeks before he was killed while walking home in Sanford, Fla. “He was going to get a drink and candy. He was not looking for any type of trouble,” she said. “He was not the criminal that some people...

Awesome opening statement by Ted Cruz in a Judiciary Sub-committee Hearing on "Stand Your Ground"! This is a display of the exemplary communication skills, and knowledge of Ted Cruz!

Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, testified on Capitol Hill Tuesday that “stand your ground” laws must be reviewed and amended. “It’s unfortunate what has happened with Trayvon, and that’s why I feel like it’s so important for me to be here so that you all can at least put a face with what has happened with this tragedy,” Fulton said at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing. “I just wanted to come here to talk to you for a moment to let you know how important it is that we amend this ‘stand your ground’ because it did not,...

A 43-year-old father of three has been charged with murder after shooting a rape suspect on his property in New York. Many are hailing David Carlson has a hero for protecting his family and stopping a rape victim on the loose whom the police were chasing at the time, but because the state of NY does not have a Stand Your Ground law, Carlson has been charged with murder instead of being thanked by the police department. The accused rapist, Norris Acosta-Sanchez, was on the run from police in Carlson’s community. He was found to be living in an abandoned...

FULL TITLE: South Carolina man who shot unarmed teenager dead will NOT face trial under controversial Stand Your Ground law A South Carolina mother has spoken out in shock after it was announced on Friday that the man who shot dead her 17-year-old son will not be tried for his murder because of the state's 'Stand Your Ground Law'. In April 2010, Shannon Anthony Scott, who was then 33, opened fire on a SUV full of teenage girls outside his home in Columbia and unintentionally hit unarmed 17-year-old Darrell Andre Niles in his car, killing him. Despite being arrested and...

A North Miami-Dade man was justified in fatally shooting a pipe-wielding, drug-addled attacker during a wild confrontation on a sidewalk four years ago, a judge has ruled. The first-degree murder charge against Luis Martinez, 29, was dismissed late last month. It was the fourth Miami-Dade murder case dismissed by a judge since the 2005 passage of Florida’s controversial Stand Your Ground law. The law eliminated a citizen’s duty to retreat before using deadly force to counter a deadly threat. The law also gave judges greater leeway in granting “immunity” to people deemed to have acted in self-defense. The state’s Stand...

Some Ohio lawmakers want to modify the state’s concealed-weapons law by vastly expanding the circumstances in which a person has no duty to retreat before using lethal force in self-defense. Such a “stand your ground” law is unnecessary. Worse, it would increase the danger of gun violence — something this state and its cities hardly need. City councils in several Ohio communities, including Toledo, Akron, Dayton, and Cincinnati, formally oppose the proposed bill. Members of the Ohio Student Association also have protested it. Current Ohio law states that people need not retreat in their residence, their vehicle, or the vehicle...

Stand Your Ground