Florida lawmakers are reviewing the 'Stand Your Ground' law due to clamors after the death of Trayvon Martin. Martin was an unarmed teenager who was shot and killed by an armed neighborhood watchman, George Zimmerman, 28.
Florida's 'Task Force on Citizen Safety and Protection' was established by Florida's governor, Rick Scott, after Martin's death to review the self-defense law that allows people to use deadly force in self-defense. Statistics show that the number of killings from shooting incidents have dramatically increased since the implementation of the 'Stand Your Ground' law.
The governor of Florida is considering rescinding or modifying the law. The parents of Martin were amongst the Florida citizens who attended the review panel's first meeting in Longwood, Florida.
Martin's mother, 46-year old Sybrina Fulton appealed to the panel "I had to bury my son at 17. He had committed no crime. He did nothing wrong."
Fulton said that there was something wrong with a law that allows the killing of an unarmed teenager. She begged the panel to review the law again. Tracy Martin, the father of the 17-year old victim said "Where does it say in this law that a Neighborhood Watch captain can chase down and shoot an unarmed kid? Basically this law is telling us that it's OK to be a vigilante."
Florida was the first US state to apply the "Stand Your Ground" law which allows an individual to use deadly force if they are threatened with imminent death or great bodily harm without the person trying to flee the threat first. Twenty-two other states applied the same law after Florida.
Researchers at Texas A&M University have determined that the legislature has increased homicides by 7% to 9% which translates to 500 to 700 more killings each year. A study suggests that the law is being used in cases it was not intended for such as killings during a drug deal gone sour.
