Posted on 04/07/2005 3:42:03 AM PDT by wingblade
MIAMI (AFP) - Florida's legislature has approved a bill that would give residents the right to open fire against anyone they perceive as a threat in public, instead of having to try to avoid a conflict as under prevailing law.
Outraged opponents say the law will encourage Floridians to open fire first and ask questions later, fostering a sort of statewide Wild West shootout mentality. Supporters argue that criminals will think twice if they believe they are likely to be promptly shot when they assault someone.
Republican Governor Jeb Bush, who has said he plans to sign the bill, says it is "a good, commonsense, anti-crime issue."
Current state law allows residents to "shoot to kill if their property, such as their home or car, is invaded by an unknown assailant."
But it also states that if a resident is confronted or threatened in a public place, he or she must first try to avoid the confrontation or flee before taking any violent step in self defense against an assailant.
The bill, supported by the influential National Rifle Association, was approved by both houses of the Republican-run legislature on Tuesday
No bias in that headline.
Sounds good to me....probably give people second thoughts about road rage...Do ya feel lucky punk?...well do ya?....
Heck, the whole piece is biased.
"Outraged critics..."?
I would support this law if the standard for threat perception is that of a reasonable man.
Any law which turns on an individual's inner reality is overbroad. Nutballs should be able to be prosecuted for unreasonable use of force, even if THEY perceived a threat.
The "Wild West" theory is wearing thin, Sarah. It ain't going to happen, Florida Folks will just continue to use good judgement, as They always have, 99.99% of the time.
The current law requires the person to flee the scene of the threat. Only if no avenue to flee is available can he/she use their weapon (You must give the bad guys the opportunity to shoot you in the back before you're allowed to respond). This is completely stupid, no doubt written when Dimocrats held the legislature.
I see the anti-gunners believe strongly in recycling--they keep using this same old discredited argument for EVERY piece of pro-gun-rights legislation.
ping
I think the tide is slowly turning. The libs have lost a lot of ground on the gun issue. I think we are moving towards taking our civilization back from the criminals and that is a good thing. Now, If I can just figure out which gun I want to get for my carry weapon. I still keep coming back to the GLOCK 21.
And who says that there's no bias in the mainstream media?
Good honest reporting. That'll show those right wing nuts (TM) over at Fox News!
Mark
Well, you can't blame the dems for writing that sort of law. After all, they need to try to protect their voter base! Especially when you consider that while dead felons can and do vote overwhelmingly democrat, they're not able to breed, expanding the voter base.
I can see how dems would be upset by allowing decent people to actually protect themselves by responding to an open threat.
Mark
A lot of pissed off old people will be packing heat...look out momma!
They roll this tired old cliché out everytime a pro-self defense measure comes to pass and it this mentality has yet to materialize.
You know some of these anti-gunners are just *praying* for the day that a CCW holder engages in violent criminal behavior. And you can be guranteed that if this ever happens it will be splashed across the news from coast to coast.
They completely misrepresent the law. It will NOT allow you to open fire on the basis of your subjective whim. All it does is say, roughly, that for categories of situations where lethal force is justifiable, you no longer have a duty to retreat first. It extends the Castle Doctrine. The duty-to-retreat concept was, is, and always will be flawed and can get people killed if they have to second-guess themselves in a lethal situation.
We have to first ASK the intruder to leave our homes after they enter illegally, THAN if they do not leave we have to make an attempt to ESCAPE our own homes before we even attempt to use force to protect ourselves.
You wouldn't be exhibiting a case of projection there, are you?
I didn't see any examples of "nutballs" in any of my concealed handgun classes. Did you?
You got to be kidding!.....ask no questions...think no thoughts..just squeeze 'em off...
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