Amid all the demagoguery regarding the tragic case arising from the death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, there have been calls to repeal Florida’s landmark “stand your ground” law, which was enacted in 2005. There have also been numerous misleading remarks on how the law was enacted and where the language came from.
I am writing to help clear up the confusion. I was the chairman of the Judiciary Committee in the Florida House of Representatives in 2005. Rep. Dennis Baxley came to me and asked that I work with him and prepare language to reform Florida’s law that required innocent victims, when outside their homes, to flee, if they had an ability to do so, before using deadly force against a criminal who had attacked them. I agreed to do so, and was the main drafter of Florida’s “stand your ground” law.
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