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May 19, 2005
You break into my home, you die. Get it?
Florida, pioneering a new chapter in American gun policy, just passed into law Senate bill 436. Quite simply, this allows you to use a gun the way you'd expect you could. That is, to use deadly force, against an intruder in a dwelling when threatened, and be immune from criminal prosecution or civil action for doing so. Formerly, Florida, like many other states, required that the gun wielder flee, hide, or use warnings unless it was established that no lesser force would suffice. Now Florida residents won't have to do such a dangerous calculus, just identify the threat and remove it. In Florida, their murder rate went from 36% above the national average when carry reform went into effect in 1987, but fell to 4% below the national average by 1991. I wonder what will happen to murder statistics now? I'd expect little improvement (although this does seem like a sensible reform) because most people don't want to kill anyone unless necessary and few people are much worried about a sympathetic juries for the armed burglar they just shot. I don't know that this will avoid many prosecutions, but at least it will keep prosecutors from going after citizen home defenders, keeping them more focused on real problems like kidnapping and tax fraud.
Florida has been a pioneer in shall-issue gun permit laws, which now cover 37 states (though it depends what you count)
Expect guns rights advocates to be emboldened by this victory and try to get similar bills passed in other states.
Posted by OneEyedMan at May 19, 2005 2:09 PM
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