Along the same lines, I think it would be useful for us to examine
some state and local laws to see if it -- if they are designed in such a
way that they may encourage the kinds of altercations and
confrontations and tragedies that we saw in the Florida case, rather
than defuse potential altercations.
I know that there’s been
commentary about the fact that the stand your ground laws in Florida
were not used as a defense in the case.
On the other hand, if
we’re sending a message as a society in our communities that someone who
is armed potentially has the right to use those firearms even if
there’s a way for them to exit from a situation, is that really going to
be contributing to the kind of peace and security and order that we’d
like to see?
And for those who resist that idea that we should
think about something like these “stand your ground” laws, I just ask
people to consider if Trayvon Martin was of age and armed, could he have
stood his ground on that sidewalk? And do we actually think that he
would have been justified in shooting Mr. Zimmerman, who had followed
him in a car, because he felt threatened?
And if the answer to that question is at least ambiguous, it seems to me that we might want to examine those kinds of laws.
