BlogWood: MT Archives

Look out! He’s coming right for us!

Get the kids their guns and beer. It’s soon gonna be open season in Florida.

Florida could wind up back in the Wild West, with people shooting first and asking questions later under a proposal that could pass the Senate today, critics of the bill warned.

Backed by the National Rifle Association, the proposed bill also would have let Jay Levin, the suburban Boca Raton accountant who shot and killed a teenager playing a door-knocking prank, walk away without being prosecuted.

Under the proposal, people aren't required to retreat — back down or run away — if they are in fear that a person would attack or commit a forcible felony on them in any place a person "has the right to be." Potential victims can "meet force with force," even if it results in death, and not face criminal charges or civil lawsuits.

Supporters of the legislation speak mainly about what they call the Castle Doctrine aspect of the bill — the right to protect one's home with deadly force. Similar laws letting people use deadly force if people break into their home are on the books in other states, including Oklahoma and Colorado, where it's dubbed the "Make My Day" law.

But critics in Florida point out that the proposal also extends the right to shoot in self-defense beyond a person's front door — onto the porch, into their vehicle, and out on the street.

If approved, the legislation could have a drastic effect on how crimes claimed to have been committed in self-defense, or in defense of others, are handled. There would be no arrests, no jail and no charges, according to the bill.
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Sen. Steve Geller, D-Hallandale Beach, pointed out on the Senate floor Tuesday that the bill goes well beyond protecting a person in his home.

"We never said... that the street is your castle," he said in suggesting that the Senate scrap the part of the bill that would not require people to avoid confrontations.

"I don't think you ought to be able to kill people that are walking toward you on the street because of this subjective belief that you're worried that they may get in a fight with you," Geller said.

Sen. Durrell Peaden, R-Crestview, the bill's main sponsor and drafter, said: "I appreciate your legalese and I appreciate your expertise, but this goes to the heart of the bill: You should not have to retreat in order to save your life."

Geller's attempt was defeated by a voice vote.