Kill At Will: Stand Your Ground Laws Contribute To 600 Additional Homicides A Year

[SecularMotion]

A new study in the Journal of Human Resources reveals that the controversial Stand Your Ground laws in states across the U.S. contribute to 600 additional homicides a year.

This news comes just as the nation learned that 26 children or teens have died in Florida alone under the “kill at will” self-defense law.

We asked what happened to homicide rates in states that passed these laws between 2000 and 2010, compared to other states over the same time period. We found that homicide rates in states with a version of the Stand Your Ground law increased by an average of 8 percent over states without it — which translates to roughly 600 additional homicides per year. These homicides are classified by police as criminal homicides, not as justifiable homicides.

It is fitting that much of this debate has centered on Florida, which enacted its law in October of 2005. Florida provides a case study for this more general pattern. Homicide rates in Florida increased by 8 percent from the period prior to passing the law (2000-04) to the period after the law (2006-10).By comparison, national homicide rates fell by 6 percent over the same time period. This is a crude example, but it illustrates the more general pattern that exists in the homicide data published by the FBI.

http://globalgrind.com/2014/02/14/stand-your-ground-laws-contribute-600-additional-homicides-a-year-details/

[pscot]

1. Freedumb

[onehandle]

2. Shoot somebody or don't shoot somebody. They like their odds of getting off.

So more shootings.

[DURHAM D]

3. I don't like my neighbor.

He usually has a gun strapped around his mid-section or in his brief case. Every day when he arrives home from work I hear him pull in the driveway because he plays his music very loud with the windows down. He is a 50 yo white man with a handlebar mustache.

I am a white female.

Can I just walk outside and shot him and claim I felt threatened?

[oneshooter]

4. Yes you can. But be prepared for the consequences of your actions. n/t

[DURHAM D]

5. I was just standing my ground.

Why would there be consequences?

[sked14]

6. Because SYG laws don't work that way.

Try it and see how well it works out for you.

[DURHAM D]

7. Would I need to live in Florida for it to work that way?

[sked14]

8. Couldn't tell you,

I live all the way across the country, but it's a distinct possibility.
But I would recommend not trying that, it would probably have a bad ending.

[DURHAM D]

10. I don't see how.

There are no cameras in my neighborhood to show that I was the aggressor.

His music is always too loud. He has red hair and everyone knows what that means. Seems a slam dunk.

Maybe for insurance I should peel the NRA sticker off of his SUV and put it on my Prius.

[etherealtruth]

9. You would need to live in Florida and your neighbor could not be white

... then you have a pretty good chance.

Obnoxious white guys with guns are NOT threatening.

Black guys engaged in any activity are very scary.

At least that is how it appears to work

[DURHAM D]

11. But none of the neighbors like his music, his mustache or his guns.

It should be a proper killing.

[etherealtruth]

12. I am sorry it is not

He is a white guy with a gun ... therefore he is NOT a threat .

Is there any chance you could claim you thought he was a scary black man ... or maybe a scary "mixed" race man?

Your post above mentioning peeling off his NRA sticker and putting it on your car is a good start ... it would at least identify you as a paranoid psycho ...?

[bettyellen]

17. at least one juror on the Dunn case was hoping it worked out for him

but at least you can't shoot fleeing people too....yet.

[sked14]

19. You don't know that,

the more likely scenario is that one or two jurors were holding out for 1st murder and couldn't be convinced to vote for 2nd murder or manslaughter as the rest of the jurors wanted.

[bettyellen]

20. They asked questions about ALSO applying self defense to the shots fired at those fleeing,

Someone wished to hear self defense could cover all of the shootings- so someone believed the self defense story that took Dunn days to concoct. Luckily, there was no self defense claimed for those additional seven shots fired. But someone on that jury had argued that shooting fleeing suspects was self defense, and the court corrected them. So they had to have assumed Dunn was in a position of "defending himself" in the initial shooting.

[Taitertots]

16. No, but you can tell him to turn his music down and defend yourself if attacked n/t

[Lizzie Poppet]

13. I have some questions about the study.

I'll have to look for the actual study (and more to the point, the actual data), as I have a few questions. In the main, I want to see if the bulk of the increase in homicide in SYG states occurred in cases where SYG was invoked and succeeded (that is, the homicide found to be justified), was invoked and failed (defendant was convicted), or wasn't invoked at all.

I'm also curious about the distribution between states that enacted SYG but formerly had "duty to retreat" laws and those that enacted SYG and in which the law was previously silent on that matter. My state, Oregon, has no explicit SYG law, but doesn't really need one: there's no "duty to retreat" here, as ruled by our Supreme Court.

[rbrnmw]

15. of course you do.... eom

[bettyellen]

22. I am shocked.

[llmart]

25. Yeah, I'll bet you're going to get right on that.....

research. Uh-huh. Yep.

You're a bit too transparent. Maybe your first resource will be Guns and Ammo magazine? I bet their "research" is really believable.

[billh58]

14. But that's why the Founders

wrote the Second Amendment: so that Americans can kill each other and carry out vigilante justice. It's the American way, and we hold the record for gun deaths over all other "civilized" nations. Yay.

[napkinz]

18. SYG ...

[toddwv]

21. "Kill At Will"

That sounds like a more accurate description of these "Stand your ground laws."

[DanTex]

23. This is now the third study I've seen come to the same or similar conclusions.

At the same time, no statistical evidence has been found that SYG has any deterrent effect in terms of reduced rates of burglary or robbery. I wonder, is gun nuttery going to yield to science?

Don't answer that...

[cinnabonbon]

24. K&R