Hello, McFly! The people of Florida elected the Legislature! Wake up, McFly!
Posted on 04/26/2005 8:07:37 PM PDT by neverdem
MIAMI, April 26 - Gov. Jeb Bush signed a bill on Tuesday giving Florida citizens more leeway to use deadly force in their homes and in public, a move that gun-control groups and several urban police chiefs warned would give rise to needless deaths.
The measure, known as the "stand your ground bill," lets people use guns or other deadly force to defend themselves in public places without first trying to escape.
Floridians already had the right to defend themselves against home intruders under what is known as the castle doctrine, but until now, they could not do so in public.
The National Rifle Association lobbied hard for the bill's passage, and Wayne LaPierre, the group's executive vice president, said it would use the victory to push for similar measures elsewhere. The bill's sponsor, Representative Dennis K. Baxley of Ocala, said it would curb violent crime and make citizens feel safer.
"It's a clear position that we will stand with victims of violent attacks when the law is in their favor," said Mr. Baxley, a Republican who has sponsored several socially conservative bills this legislative session, including an effort to keep the brain-damaged Terri Schiavo alive. "People want to know we stand on the side of victims of crime instead of the side of criminals."
Governor Bush, a Republican, said he supported the measure because when people faced life-threatening situations, "to have to retreat and put yourself in a very precarious position defies common sense."
But John F. Timoney, Miami's police chief, called the bill unnecessary and dangerous. Chief Timoney, who has successfully pushed his police officers to use less deadly force, said many people, including children, could become innocent victims. The bill could make gun owners, including drivers with road rage or drunken sports fans who get into fights leaving ball games, assume they have "total immunity," he said.
"Whether it's trick-or-treaters or kids playing in the yard of someone who doesn't want them there or some drunk guy stumbling into the wrong house," Chief Timoney said, "you're encouraging people to possibly use deadly physical force where it shouldn't be used."
He added, "I don't think it's been thought out enough."
Chief Chuck Harmon of the St. Petersburg police and Sheriff Ken Jenne of Broward County also publicly opposed the bill. The Florida House of Representatives voted 94 to 20 in favor of the bill earlier this month, while the Senate, usually less conservative, passed it 39 to 0.
The measure codifies in state law what many courts have already ruled in Florida: that a citizen need not try to escape an intruder in his home or workplace before using deadly force in self-defense.
The measure also goes a step further, allowing "a person who is not engaged in unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be" to use deadly force without first trying to flee.
Florida was among the first states to allow people to carry concealed firearms, and Sarah Brady, chairwoman of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a national gun-control group, said she was not surprised that the N.R.A. lobbied for the new law here first. Mrs. Brady said that she had not even been aware of the measure before it passed, but that she would now rally opposition to similar bills in other states.
"The populace in Florida is very much common sense and on our side," Mrs. Brady said, "but the State Legislature is very conservative and the N.R.A. has control of them. I'm just sick. It's just a terrible, terrible bill."
Mrs. Brady, whose husband, James, was seriously injured in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, said that while the Florida measure was disheartening, other states were taking a different stance. On Monday, Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona, a Democrat, vetoed a bill that would have let people carry loaded guns into bars.
Still, Mrs. Brady conceded, "we are going to have to get busy and fight."
Mr. LaPierre of the N.R.A. said his group would introduce the bill in every state, and he predicted it would win broad national support.
"We will start with red and move to blue," he said of the states. "In terms of passing it, it is downhill rather than uphill because of all the public support."
Terry Aguayo contributed reporting from Miami for this article.
Typical twaddle from a big city cop. Timoney worked under Bratton in NY City. Bratton is now the LAPD chief.
Bull. My state had a 50-year head start on Florida. So did other states. Hasn't Vermont allowed this for hundreds of years?
Hello, McFly! The people of Florida elected the Legislature! Wake up, McFly!
If Ken Jenne is opposed to something, you can bet it's a good bill. Very anti-gun.
"Governor Bush, a Republican, said he supported the measure because when people faced life-threatening situations, "to have to retreat and put yourself in a very precarious position defies common sense.""
Makes sense to me.
You can always count on the police to oppose any law that allows ordinary people to do things the police stopped doing years ago... like fight criminals.
Attrition and retention rates of officers is pathetic in the St. Petersburg Police Department. The city is practically begging for officers. When he was first named as Police Chief in 2001, the PBA had a rally at City Hall complaining that Harmon was more interested in political correctness than law enforcement.
Yes, the liberal yonks who should never have a position of leadership in any LEA. NSNR
Makes complete sense to me. Texans are not required to RUN before defending themselves. I cannot conceive of any state requiring this.
Verifies that person is legally authorized to fire that bullet. Dems offer amendments requiring ethnic description of intended target, reason for firing.
Just in case, just kidding. So far only the serial number would be required.
Jenne has his own problems. His sherriffs were not only caught cooking the crime stats. They were charging already arrested criminal with crimes they physically could not commit (were in jail, were under arrest elsewhere, were dead) then charging them in the courts.
jenne is being "investigated" but not charged, yet.
Jenne also tried to ban assault rifles in his county. He is a MAJOR kook. he was appointed sherrif so he would stop running for state office. Since he is a democrat and is in a shrinking "D" area, he lucked out. if he is smart he will retire and MOVE, out of the jurisdiction so scandal will not follow him.
Bull. My state had a 50-year head start on Florida. So did other states. Hasn't Vermont allowed this for hundreds of years?
If the sentence in the article had been expanded, it would have been correct. IIRC, Florida was one of first states in the last two decades during the modern push for concealed carry privileges to obtain them. IIRC, Vermont has virtually no statewide gun control laws for all intents and purposes.
Mrs Brady does not have the mental capacity to realize she is NOT mainstream. She is looney left, but she refuses to use a mirror.
In other words, except for the state that adopted concealed carry earlier, Florida was one of the first!
State pride prompted me to point out that Indiana has had this legislation since the 1930's (and our laws are still far superior to all the Johnny-come-lately states that have adopted concealed carry in recent years). But I realize your point is also valid -- Florida was a leader in push for this legislation in the last few decades.
Did you ever notice that this trait is common to lots of people on the left? I'm starting to think that maybe they don't cast a reflection in a mirror -- that would explain a lot.
Most cops are NRA supporters. It's just that ones who aren't get the ink.
Pennsylvania, btw, exempted Philadelphia from its shall issue law in 1989. They removed the exemption in 1995.
The leftists get that delusional "i am important" twitch.
Not unlike a insane assylum full of Napoleons. Their fragile egos do not want to see the fact that they are not all that important to benefit the society. The only impact they can have is by doing harm.
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