Stand Your Ground fatally flawed law
Published:Sunday | July 29, 2018 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
The Stand Your Ground law in Florida is deeply flawed. The current case - of a black American man who was fatally shot by a white American man because the former strongly shoved him, arising from the fact that the black man had parked in a disabled parking spot - shows just how dangerously flawed that law is.
He was fatally shot in front of his wife and four children. After the black man shoved the white man, the latter fell to the ground, immediately pulled his handgun and opened fire.
The incident, from start to finish, was captured by CCTV camera outside a convenience store. Importantly, the footage shows that after the shooter pulled his weapon, the black man had backed up, by four steps, in retreat.
Hence, the most reasonable and commonsensical conclusion that can be drawn, despite the shooter saying his life was in danger, is that his life was not in actual and/or imminent danger. Therefore, he had absolutely no need to shoot.
Florida's Stand Your Ground law needs to be amended or rescinded. Something is seriously wrong when a father/husband ends up dead because his car was illegally parked in a disabled parking spot (assuming he was not disabled) outside a convenience store (he went inside the store to buy some snacks and drinks for his family).
PATRICK GALLIMORE