This is close enough to legalized murder for me.

[X¤MurderDoll¤X]

Law Expands Right to Kill in Self-Defense

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Reuters) - People in Florida will be allowed to kill in self-defense on the street without trying to flee under a new law passed by state politicians on Tuesday that critics say will bring a Wild West mentality and innocent deaths.

The Florida House of Representatives, citing the need to allow people to "stand their ground," voted 94-20 to codify and expand court rulings that already allow people to use deadly force to protect themselves in their homes without first trying to escape.

The new bill goes further by allowing citizens to use deadly force in a public place if they have a reasonable belief they are in danger of death or great bodily harm. It applies to all means of force that may result in death, although the legislative debate focused on guns.

The "Stand Your Ground" bill passed the Senate last week on a 39-0 vote and now goes to Republican Gov. Jeb Bush, who indicated he will sign it.

"This is about meeting force with force," said House sponsor Republican state Rep. Dennis Baxley of Ocala. "If I'm attacked, I should not have to retreat."

Critics have few objections to allowing people to protect themselves from intruders in their homes but said the provision making it easier to use deadly force in public gives gun owners a license to kill.

"For a House that talks about the culture of life it's ironic that we would be devaluing life in this bill," said Democratic state Rep. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach. "That's exactly what we're doing."

Like many states, Florida courts have ruled that people have a right to defend themselves in their homes. Florida courts have expanded that "Castle Doctrine" to include employees in their workplaces and drivers who are attacked in their automobiles.

Outside the home, however, courts have ruled that most victims must at least attempt to escape before using deadly force, a provision gun advocates say puts victims at greater risk. The proposal removes that requirement if a person has a reasonable fear of death or great bodily harm.

Critics say the measure could lead to racially motivated killings and promote deadly escalations of arguments.

"All this bill will do is sell more guns and possibly turn Florida into the OK Corral," said Democratic state Rep. Irv Slosberg of Boca Raton.



Your thoughts? (besides that this is the wrong forum.) ;)

[sweet4dnb]

My mom's boyfriend Killed someone..

:eek:

They live in Tampa

[X¤MurderDoll¤X]

story plz

[Gren the cake]

if they think their court systems are flooded now theyre in for a treat

[X¤MurderDoll¤X]

haha true.

[bwind22]

I think it's stupid that their law said you had to try to flee in the first place. Fuck that. If someone's attacking me or my fiance or any other family member, I sure as hell wouldn't be running away.

To me it just sounds like they are catching up to the the rest of the country because I've never heard of anywhere else that says you have to try to run away before using deadly force to protect yourself.

[urgeok]

so the choices are to turn and attempt to outrun a bullet, or take part in a gunfight.

welcome to the wild west. what a country.

[The Mothman]

murderdoll, your avatar is about to give me a seisure.:p

[ShankS]

we've recently, or so I was lead to believe, had a change in the law regarding using reasonable force, to apprehend or remove a person breaking into your home.

A few years ago there was quite a high profile case here, a guy named Tony Martin, a UK farmer who killed a burglar, by shooting him with a shotgun. He served time, but has since been released, and rightly so, since the shitheads who broke in shouldn't have been there robbing him, so deserved shooting.

going back to the topic, this law based on reasonable force, does not include killing, like said above, but withstraining or using force to remove someone, meaning the likelyhood of prosecution for the home owner is reduced, if the criminal is injured.

[meetthecreeper]

43 states in the Union allow some form of concealed carry of handguns and allow self defense of this type for many years, and there is no so called 'Wild West' going on.

You folks up north watch too much television. Everytime the news is on youd think the world is coming to an end with the amount of violence that is showed on TV in the USA. I see that gun confiscation program worked really well out in the territories.

Call 911, yea right average response time in the styx where I live is 45 mins.

Oh excuse mister criminal can you put your wrong doings on hold while we wait for law enforcement to show up and save the day. The police are there to solve the crime after the fact, very rarely do they prevent crime.

If I was a criminal and wanted to do harm to another, I certainly wouldnt be looking for someone who can defend themselves, why do you think predators prey on the weak and the old? Last thing some perp wants to do is break into my house where I am not bound by the rule of law like law enforcement. Someone threatened my family in such a manner, every power I have I would use to take from them what they are trying to take from me.


It is ridiculous for someone to think that they should depend on the government to protect them let alone anything else. They havent done a damn thing for me but take my money and give it to those who dont deserve it.

Sound cold hearted? I give more to my community and do more for the people in it than the government ever can do.

Hand up not a hand out.

Sorry for the rant.

Well not really.