I was listening to NPR yesterday, and they were talking about people boycotting Florida (refusing to vacation there, for instance). They brought on someone to defend the bill, who was saying how it was supposed to protect people visiting the state, in case of someone invading their hotel, say.
I was a bit surprised; after all, the bill is only about saying that you don't have to try to leave when you can. I wonder how he thinks people can leave when someone invades their hotel room.
A few minutes after, they gave a portion of a floor speech by a Democratic lawmaker (I missed his name), talking about repeal. I forget exactly what he said, but I could hear a subtext in his words of, "I can't freakin' believe I have to say crap like this to people who would label themselves 'pro-life'. Do they have any self-awareness at all?"
The whole thing just seems amazingly stupid, unless your goal is to increase homicides. After all, the whole point of the bill is to escalate hostile encounters. Inevitably, that will lead to people dying, as we saw with Trayvon Martin.
I hadn't realized there were already thirty states with 'stand your ground' bills. At that point, the federal government really needs to step in, because that's some mighty widespread insanity.
Actually, there was one surprise with this. Virginia, gun-loving state that it is, is not one of the 'stand your ground' states. Let's thank heaven for that.
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