Attorney General Eric Holder, speaking about the George Zimmerman acquittal at the NAACP annual convention in Orlando, Fla., urged that laws like Florida's "stand your ground" statute allowing people to use licensed firearms when they feel threatened should be invoked only after the person first tries to retreat from a dangerous situation. "It's time to question laws that senselessly expand the concept of self-defense and sow dangerous conflict in our neighborhoods," Holder said. "These laws try to fix something that was never broken."
Zimmerman was carrying a firearm concealed in his pants waist when, he said, when Trayvon Martin, who was unarmed, assaulted him. At that point, Zimmerman told police, he pulled out the weapon and shot the 17-year-old. It is that kind of situation that the Florida law permits, but that Holder believes should be invoked only when "no safe retreat is available." He said, "We must examine laws that take this further by eliminating the common sense and age-old requirement that people who feel threatened have a duty to retreat, outside their home, if they can do so safely." Otherwise, he said, "by allowing and perhaps encouraging violent situations to escalate in public, such laws undermine public safety. The list of resulting tragedies is long and, unfortunately, has victimized too many who are innocent."
los angeles times
