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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsEven the NRA Disagrees With Florida Sheriff Who Cited "Stand Your Ground" in Parking-Space Killing
The NRA and Republican lawmakers in Florida are speaking out against the Pinellas County sheriff who chose not to arrest a white gun owner who killed a black man last month in a heated argument over a parking spot. Even the powerful gun-rights organization thinks Sheriff Bob Gualtieri misapplied the states controversial stand your ground lawwhich the NRA has previously called a human right.
The deadly confrontation began after Markeis McGlockton and his 5-year-old son went into a Circle A convenience store to buy snacks and drinks while McGlocktons girlfriend, Britany Jacobs, and two of their children were parked in a disabled spot. While McGlockton and his son were inside, Michael Drejkaa regular at Circle A who detested able-bodied people parking in reserved spotsapproached the car and began lecturing Jacobs about Floridas disabled-parking regulations. Jacobs told Good Morning America that Drejka was harassing her and said that he was picking a fight.
Security footage shows McGlockton exiting Circle A and shoving Drejka to the ground before appearing to take several steps away from him. While sitting on the ground, Drejka took a pistol out of his pocket and shot McGlockton once in the chest. McGlockton staggered back into the store and collapsed. He died shortly after.
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This week, the NRA and state lawmakers behind the stand your ground legislation challenged Sheriff Gualtieris interpretation of the law in the McGlockton case.
Nothing in either the 2005 law or the 2017 law prohibits a Sheriff from making an arrest in a case where a person claims self-defense if there is probable cause that the use of force was unlawful, wrote Marion Hammer, Tallahassees NRA lobbyist, in a statement to Politico.
Hammer added that the law does not say that someone can sue a sheriff for making an arrest when there is probable cause.
Dennis Baxley, a Republican state senator who sponsored the 2005 stand your ground laws when he was in the Florida House, also objected to Gualtieris reading of the legislation as a subjective standard. Rather, Baxley explained to Politico, the law uses a reasonable-person standard. Its not that you were just afraid. State Sen. Rob Bradley, who sponsored the 2017 legislation, came to the same conclusion as Baxter. This idea that Florida law is concerned about the subjective perceptions of a shooter is wrong, he told Politico.
Despite the mounting criticisms from the victims family, Democratic state lawmakers, civil rights organizations, and now gun-rights advocates, Gualtieri has remained steadfast in his decision to let the shooter go. In a lengthy press conference on Tuesday, Gualtieri insisted, I didnt get it wrong.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/08/the-nra-says-florida-sheriffs-interpretation-of-stand-your-ground-law-is-wrong-in-markeis-mcglockton-case.html
hexola
(4,835 posts)Thats about all I have...
Turbineguy
(37,361 posts)This law is a license to murder people. And you don't get anywhere by countering the NRA. So he doubled down. This stand your ground stuff is dangerous to police as well. And the gun culture is why the police shoot first and ask questions later.
hexola
(4,835 posts)I had not considered that angle...
peekaloo
(22,977 posts)He was quick to defer to the State Attorney's office as well. The shooter has a history with this store and handicapped parking violators, so surely the Sheriff had knowledge of this.
I would love to see Marion Hammer's influence on our legislature diminished as she has helped make Florida less safe and subject to ridicule as "The Gunshine State".
magicarpet
(14,160 posts).... hoping to bump into someone he could gun down - "because he was fraid some meany intended to be rude to him." So bang bang your dead... because this executioner was itching to be an alpha male and use his fucking gun.
Only a screwball fucking idiot would think the law was on his side,.. and condone this abhorrent criminal behavior.
The Florida legislators who passed this law and the NRA lobbyist who helped write this law should be locked up in jail for a few decades.
d_r
(6,907 posts)I guess that is a thing.
KayF
(1,345 posts)when he said "I like Mike". It's Drejka not Jordan.