Florida moves ahead with bill legalizing 'warning shots' during confrontations

[Redfairen]

Florida legislators are pushing ahead with a bill designed to make it clear people can show a gun, or even fire a warning shot, without drawing a lengthy prison sentence.

The legislation was partially inspired by the case of Marissa Alexander, a Jacksonville woman who was given a 20-year prison sentence after firing a gun near her estranged husband during an argument. Alexander's conviction was thrown out by an appeals court and she is scheduled to have a new trial this year.

A similar bill was proposed last year, but it went nowhere. But with increased attention to Alexander's case and Florida's gun laws, the measure is moving ahead. A Senate committee on Wednesday voted in favor of the bill (SB 488) while a House committee has also voted in favor of similar legislation (HB 89).

Both bills would grant the same protections already in place under Florida's "stand your ground" law to people who only threaten to use force. It would make sure that people who show a gun would be immune from Florida's "10-20-Life" law, which requires anyone who shows a gun while committing certain felonies to be sentenced to 10 years in prison. If someone is shot and wounded, the sentence increases to 25 years to life. The law, implemented in 1999, has been credited with helping to lower Florida's violent-crime rate.

http://m.nydailynews.com/news/national/fla-moves-bill-legalizing-warning-shots-article-1.1570689

[shenmue]

1. But what if the bullet gets lost and 'accidentally' plonks in someone's head?

Bullets get scared sometimes, and they just don't know where to go.

[FreakinDJ]

2. Insanity

But watch her sympathizers jump on the band wagon of support for this bill

[upaloopa]

3. Hell you can already murder someone and say you were

afraid for your life, why fire a warning shot?
Now if they said you had to warn first that might make sense.
But I can see that in some cases you may not want to take the time to warn.
On guard duty in Vietnam we were supposed to yell halt three times in English, three times in Vietnamese, then shoot to wound, then shoot to kill. Of course we would have been turned into a worm feast at the first halt in English.

[spin]

5. It's is true that you can murder someone and say you were in fear of being seriously injured ...

or killed. Most murderers do this.

Then it's up to the prosecution to prove to a jury that you were guilty of murder beyond a reasonable doubt. If there are no witnesses and the evidence is inconclusive, the jury will probably find you "not guilty" which doesn't mean that they feel you were totally innocent but that they had some doubt. That's the way our legal system is designed to work. Obviously this system allows some who are guilty of murder to walk free.

Of course you might have actually feared for your life or health and used your weapon to kill your attacker in legitimate self defense. Killing is not the same as murder. That fear better be based on good reason. For example, if your neighbor attacks you with a water hose and you shoot him, you will likely end up in prison.

I would imagine that when you were in Vietnam, had you shot an intruder you would have said that you were following the rules and did yell three times in English as well as three times in Vietnamese to stop and that you also tried to wound the intruder.

[upaloopa]

6. Yes you are right

[spin]

4. In Florida you can get in a world of trouble if you flash your concealed weapon even ...

if it's to stop an attack from a person who intends to seriously injure you or put you in a grave and has the ability to do so.

A concealed weapons instructor that I know has told his classes, "If you have to draw your weapon, it better end up smoking." The argument is that if you merely flash your weapon, it shows that you really didn't believe the threat was all that serious.

Still it is common that an attacker will break off his assault when he realizes that his victim is armed.

For example two of my co-workers were in downtown Tampa on a chilly winter Sunday morning. They were treasure hunting with metal detectors in a vacant lot where a old building has just been torn down.

They were approached by a man who pulled out a large butcher knife and told them to give him their wallets. One of my co-workers had a carry permit. He opened his jacket far enough to show the bad guy his Colt .45 auto pistol in a shoulder holster. The guy turned and walked off muttering to himself.
No shots were fired and nobody was injured. (In passing the guy with the gun was also a black belt in Karate.)

In the 1920 time frame my mother got off a bus at a stop in a fairly rural area of Pennsylvania and was walking to her home. She was attacked by a man who had been hiding behind some bushes. She drew her tiny .22 caliber LadySmith revolver from her purse and fired two shots over his head. He ran. (The revolver fired .22 short cartridges and had she hit her attacker, it is possible that all she would have done is to piss him off.)

I see no problem with it being legal to show that you are armed or even firing a warning shot into the ground. Of course the law needs to be well written which may prove to be a problem in Florida.