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Self defense in criminal cases
Stand your ground laws essay
Stand your ground law problems
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Stand-your-ground law is a type of self-defense law that allow an individual to use deadly force if he/she felt that their life is in grave danger. The Controversy behind Stand-your-ground law is often criticized for encouraging violence. Critics claim that the laws lead to a "shoot first, ask questions later" attitude that results in more injuries and deaths than would occur without the law. Stand-your-ground law was passed by the former Florida governor Jeb Bush in 2005. Afterward, many other states have followed mostly the Republican States. The laws expand on the "Castle doctrine," which says that a person is protected under the law to use deadly force in self-defense when his or her property or home is being invaded. The Controversy behind …show more content…
Zimmerman 's complaint that "they always get away," as he stalked Trayvon shortly before the deadly confrontation. Even on the 911 call, the operation told Zimmerman not follow Trayvon. Maybe in Zimmerman 's mind, he was trying to be the hero like in movies. The main character decided not to follow the order and end up saving the day. Perhaps Zimmerman was thinking the same thing. Should Trayvon has the right to Stand-his-ground after he was being followed by Zimmerman? Should Trayvon have his First Amendment right to be in that neighborhood? Should Trayvon have his Second Amendment right to bear arms protection? The situation could have end peacefully if Zimmerman had walked …show more content…
The NRA is basically helping to make sure the gun industry can increase sales according to Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, a New York Democrat who also a longtime gun control advocate. McCarthy proposed a bill that would ban new sales of new large ammunition clips that increase the lethality of weapons like those used in mass shootings in Connecticut three years ago and Colorado Theater and so on. No one has never challenging NRA members ' right to own guns before. "We 've had large mass shootings which have involved large mass assault weapons clips. "These clips aren 't used for hunting," McCarthy said. As a matter of fact, McCarthy husband and five other people were shot dead in a brutal assault in 1993 on a New York commuter train by a man wielding a gun with a large-capacity ammunition clip. The Obama administration is reportedly considering a much broader approach to curbing gun violence: bans on assault weapons and large ammunition clips, mandatory background checks for all gun purchases, increased mental health checks and expanded penalties for carrying guns near schools. A few months ago President Obama had determined to take "executive action on gun
On the night of February 26, 2012 “George Zimmerman who was the coordinator for his Sanford neighborhood watch association is charged with second-degree murder in the death of a young boy. Trayvon Martin, an unarmed high school student from Miami, Florida. (Alvarez) The case began in a small city of Sanford as a routine homicide but soon evolved into a civil rights case, examining racial profiling. On the night of the attack Zimmerman was told not to get out of his car when he was following Trayvon. He described Trayvon as a “guy who looks up to no good, or he’s on drugs or something” Trayvon had his back to Zimmerman the whole time he was on the phone with the Dispatcher, from what the conversation was saying. When the dispatcher asked Zimmerman “is the guy white, black, or Hispanic? “Zimmerman says that he “looks” black, Zimmerman still has yet to see if Trayvon was black, white, or even Hispanic because Trayvon was walking the other direction. Later on in the conversation is when Zimmerman said “now he’s just staring at me”. That would have been the right time to mention the race of Trayvon. As the dispatcher was asking mo...
The case involved a neighborhood watchman, who happened to be on duty when he saw a young black man wearing a sweater jacket called a “hoodie”, walking through the neighborhood. George Zimmerman, the watchman, who was twenty-eight years old at the time, called authorities about a suspicious character walking around in his neighborhood. The authorities told him not to do anything; just continue with his rounds and not worry. Zimmerman, however, decided he would take matters into his own hands. He confronted the young man; they got into a brawl and Zimmerman pulled out a gun and shot and killed Martin. That premise will play a role in this paper as an argument as to why George Zimmerman should have been convicted of committing a crime. Even if the jury could not have reasons to convict him of the second degree murder of Trayvon Martin; they had other choices.
On March 12, 2012 Bill Lee, the Chief of Police for Sanford Florida, explained Zimmerman had not been arrested because the police found no evidence to refute Zimmerman’s self-defense claim (Timeline of events: Trayvon Martin shooting case). Then the media decided to bully the state of Florida into bringing Florida by influencing public opinion. One of the ways the media achieved this was by making it seem like the reason there was no evidence to refute Zimmerman’s claim of self-defense, and Zimmerman’s eventual acquittal, was because of the controversial law in several states, including Florida, known as “Stand-Your Ground.”
The “Stand Your Ground” law was first adopted in the state of florida in 2005. This law did not gain national attention until the shooting death of unarmed teenager, Trayvon Martin, in Sanford, florida, where the shooter, George Zimmerman used the “Stand Your Ground” law as his basis for defending himself against Trayvon Martin to the Sanford Police Department. However, George Zimmerman’s legal defense team did not utilize the law to argue his innocence during his trial. But the damage had been done because soon after other cases in florida began to sprout up with “Stand Your Ground” as the driving force.
The Zimmerman case allowed me to be aware of something that was right in front of me. At a young age, my mother's significant other was arrested and imprisoned for "trafficking drugs". My mother had always maintained that he was initially arrested due to racial profiling, as there was no sufficient evidence to warrant the police to search his car. Despite this information being told to me as a child, I remained blind to the effects that such a system of injustice could have on your economic status, mental health, etc. However, I believe that the outcome of the Zimmerman trial opened my eyes to this effect. I believe that Trayvon Martin's family most likely received the same financial and emotional stresses due to the racial injustice associated with their experience. However, they had lost their son. Following the shooting of Trayvon Martin, I began to understand the effect that systemic racism could have on the lives of Black people, and how it had already been affecting
While the NRA is a very big organization that is continually growing, there are problems outside of their program they cannot handle. One thing that LaPierre mentioned was the absence of attention to those with metal health issues. He believes that the “lack of mental health reforms can lead to the tragedies.” Stewart House, wrote the short article “So, About That ‘Good Guy’ with a Gun” also mentioned “another mentally ill person who felt like she had no other option” could have been prevented with plausible attention to both gun laws and metal health awareness. I think Shipley is mistaken because he overlooks the other possible outcomes for violent shootings. He needs to look at the people themselves, the issues they have, why they want the gun, etc. Although I agree with Shipley to a point, I cannot accept his overall assumption that the NRA is the probable cause to all the terrible, reckless shootings because the NRA has proven they are not being sloppy and letting horrible things
First, I would like to bring to your attention that George Zimmerman was found not Guilty of the murder of Trayvon Martin under the 'Stand your ground law' This law which is placed gives individuals the right to use deadly force to defend themselves without having to retreat from a dangerous situation However, When Zimmerman called 911 and explained to the police department about the suspicious of Trayvon Martin the police officer informed him not to follow yet Zimmerman continue to follow him after the dispatcher told him there was no need to do so Surely if George Zimmerman after calling a dispatch unit because he felt unsafe why did he feel the need to then follow the young teenager he is now inserting himself into what he declared to be a dangerous situation Knowing full well that he was armed, Zimmerman followed Trayvon in his car AND on foot meaning he left his car making the decision to bring his gun in order to pursue and confront someone Here you can see he was clearly wanting trouble. he was ordered not to follow him. But he did so therefore he has no right to claim self-defense. He was asking for a fight and he got one, with a kid he thought to be dangerous. we can clearly see George Zimmerman was the instigator and placing himself into this position and then use the act of self defense to justify murder of an innocent unarmed teenager. I don't think he set out to ...
Zimmerman was asked by a dispatcher to stop pursuing Treyvon Martin. The “Stand Your Ground”
Firearms are classified into three broad types handguns, rifles, and shotguns. Rifles and shotguns are both considered “long guns.” A semi-automatic weapon fires one bullet each time the user pules the trigger, it will also eject the empty shell after its fired, and will automatically load another round into the gun. A automatic will fire multiple bullets as long as u hold the trigger down. Gun control has been a topic in government law making for years, although here recently gun control has been pushed for harder than ever. The major incident that started the fuss was the Sandy Hook school shooting in which they blame guns for a troubled young man killing six adults and twenty children. According to politics/policy a news paper article “Republicans have shot down any attempts to enact new Federal gun control laws and restrictions. Yet lawmakers have had some success in a handful of states such as Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, and New York have toughened back ground check rules or banned large capacity clips or weapons.”
Throughout the years there has been an ongoing debate over the Second Amendment and how it should be interpreted. The issue that is being debated is whether our government has the right to regulate guns. The answer of who has which rights lies within how one interprets the Second Amendment. With this being the case, one must also think about what circumstances the Framers were under when this Amendment was written. There are two major sides to this debate, one being the collective side, which feels that the right was given for collective purposes only. This side is in favor of having stricter gun control laws, as they feel that by having stricter laws the number of crimes that are being committed with guns will be reduced and thus save lives. However while gun control laws may decrease criminals’ access to guns, the same laws restricts gun owning citizens who abide by the law; these citizens make up a great majority of the opposing side of this argument. These people argue that the law was made with the individual citizens in mind. This group believes that the Amendment should be interpreted to guarantee citizens free access to firearms. One major group that is in strong opposition of stricter gun control laws is the National Rifle Association (NRA). The NRA argues that having stricter gun control laws will only hinder law-abiding citizens. The final outcome on this debate will mainly depend on how this Amendment is going to be interpreted.
Of Americans 3% own half the country's 265 million guns, that means each of those 3% own more than one gun. We have the individual right to own and use these arms. Gun control is a big debate in politics right now. I personally do not believe in gun control, i just feel like if a good guy had a gun then he would be able to stop things like shootings from happening. So do organizations like the NRA (National Rifle Association), the GOA (Gun Owners of America), and the SAF (Second Amendment Foundation) “The answer to crime is not gun control, its law enforcement and self-control” (Alan Keyes political activist) This violates our second amendment right of the U.S. constitution to keep and bear arms. So it's all in the best interest that we keep gun control from happening, so that we can keep our second amendment.
The stand your ground law states that it is a form of self-defense that gives people the ability to use deadly force to defend themselves. This is not the main issue with people who disregard the stand your ground law. Peoples distaste for the law stems from how the stand your ground law is used. What I mean by this is that some states have different meanings and interpretations of how the stand your ground law can/is used. The rulings that have rooted the stand your ground law in the United States currently allows forty six states in America to use this as a reasonable defense. (Shapiro,2013) So, where did this all start from? Over a hundred years ago in Indiana Runyon vs State took place. It stated that the way that the American people think does not allow for them to follow a rule which tells them to retreat, but the person being assaulted or threatened cannot be at fault if they are in the right spot at the right time. Thus, allowing him to defend himself using force which in turn lets him exercise his right to self-defense. The reason that the laws of retreat were enacted dates back to the old British law when the deadly weapons used were swords, this was because swords would allow the defense to retreat lessening the amount of blood spilled during the altercation. British law reflects a “deference to the constabulary,” by which the King owed a duty of protection to his subjects. That’s obviously not part of our tradition.(Shapiro, 2013) Despite what gun prohibitionists claim, the no-retreat rule has deep roots in American law. At the Supreme Court, SYG dates to the unanimous 1895 case of Beard v. United States, in which Justice John Harlan affirmed the right to armed self-defense. (Weaver,2008) It is hard to talk about...
Since the NRA’s was charter in 1871 for the promotion and encouragement of rifle shooting on a scientific basis, the organization has grown to over four million members. The organization describes itself as non-profit and non-partisan. However, it has more Republican members than Democrat members. Although it will endorse candidates from either party as long as the candidate supports its pro=gun position. Its stated position is for the protection of the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights and the promotion of firearm ownership rights as well as marksmanship, firearm safety, and the protection of hunting and self-defense.
This case is about a 16-year-old kid from Miami named Trayvon Martin. On the night of February 26th, Trayvon walked from his father's house in a gated community to a nearby store. When walking back, he was spotted by George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer. There have been a number of break-ins in the neighborhood over the last few weeks and Zimmerman thought that a young black man walking in the rain and wearing a hooded sweatshirt looked suspicious. Zimmerman then called 911 to report the person who "might be on drugs."
The American Constitution is sacred in that it hasn’t changed for hundreds of years, but it has come to our attention that some of the amendments are outdated. The second amendment states that everyone has a right to bear arms which sounds righteous and fair, but we live in a far different time than our fathers that wrote the Constitution did. Today, we have real problems with guns because it is so easy to obtain and so many misuse the power of such a dangerous weapon. It has always been American culture that owning a gun as a household self defense tool is considered a norm. The many cases of mass shootings made some people demand stricter regulations on gun or even ban guns completely. However, it would be illegal for the US government to ban guns, as laid down in the Constitution. It would seem “unamerican” that a man doesn’t have the right to buy a gun if he wanted to. It is also difficult to make any changes on gun laws, because of the National Rifle Association. It is an incredibly powerful organisation that represents gun owners ' rights. It is also known as one of the most influential lobbying groups in Washington. In order to lay stricter laws on guns, the government would have to go through them first. “[The NRA] have the ability to recruit and fund competitors for politicians who don’t listen to them. Lawmakers like their jobs and most try to keep them for life” (Culhane, 2015, p.2). The NRA have many wealthy members, and it is corrupted. Whenever congress tries to restrict any gun rights, the NRA will help any campaign financially to defeat them. Even though majority of the people in America want to change the gun laws, they are not as strong as the NRA. The NRA is strongly supportive of the American gun culture. Therefore, any suggestions that disadvantage gun right will be drowned to