Hwo will the New Fl Law effect Law Enforcement?

[MCCO]

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (AP) -- Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday he intends to sign a bill that would allow people who feel threatened -- even on the street or at a baseball game -- to "meet force with force" and defend themselves without fear of prosecution.

The measure, the top priority of the National Rifle Association in Florida this year, passed the House 94-20 on Tuesday. It had already passed the Senate.

Bush, who has championed tougher penalties for people convicted of using guns in crimes, said the bill is about self-defense and called it "a good, common sense, anti-crime issue."

The measure essentially extends a right Floridians already have in their home or car. Under present law, however, people attacked anywhere else are supposed to do what they can to avoid escalating the situation and can use deadly force only after they've tried to retreat.

"I'm sorry, people, but if I'm attacked I shouldn't have a duty to retreat," said the bill's sponsor, state Rep. Dennis Baxley. "That's a good way to get shot in the back."

Baxley said that if people have the clear right to defend themselves without having to worry about legal consequences, criminals will think twice.

Opponents feared the bill would make Florida resemble the wild West, but defenders say it is no different from what most other states allow in laws governing self-defense.

The bill says a person has "the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so, to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another."

Me I think its about time. If I am threatned then I should have the right to defend myself and meet the force head on. Its not in my nature to back down.

Do you think the new law will turn Fl into the Old West? How does it effect law enforcement?

[txinvestigator1]

Me I think its about time. If I am threatned then I should have the right to defend myself and meet the force head on. Its not in my nature to back down.

Do you think the new law will turn Fl into the Old West? How does it effect law enforcement?

I can tell from the article that it is misleading. I would have to read the law before I would comment specifically.

However, if it simply removes the requirement to retreat before using deadly force, I don't see how that could be an issue at all. I bet FL has cery specific circumstances under which deadly force can be used.

[MCCO]

I can tell from the article that it is misleading. I would have to read the law before I would comment specifically.

However, if it simply removes the requirement to retreat before using deadly force, I don't see how that could be an issue at all. I bet FL has cery specific circumstances under which deadly force can be used.

I don't think it has been written into law just yet. I will see if I can find it.


I think that is all it does. Instead of having to find away to difuse the situation before your allowed to use force now you can meet it head on. Force to force.

[MCCO]

Here is a bit more info on it.

MIAMI -- It is either a Wild West revival, a return to the days of "shoot first and ask questions later," or a triumph for the "Castle Doctrine" -- the notion that enemies invade personal space at their peril.

Such dueling rhetoric marked the debate over a measure that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) could sign as early as Tuesday. The legislation passed so emphatically that National Rifle Association backers plan to take it to statehouses across the nation, including Virginia's, over the next year. The law will let Floridians "meet force with force," erasing the "duty to retreat" when they fear for their lives outside of their homes, in their cars or businesses, or on the street.

NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said in an interview that the Florida measure is the "first step of a multi-state strategy" that he hopes can capitalize on a political climate dominated by conservative opponents of gun control at the state and national levels.

"There's a big tailwind we have, moving from state legislature to state legislature," LaPierre said. "The South, the Midwest, everything they call 'flyover land' -- if John Kerry held a shotgun in that state, we can pass this law in that state."

The Florida measure says any person "has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm."

Florida law already lets residents defend themselves against attackers if they can prove they could not have escaped. The new law would allow them to use deadly force even if they could have fled and says that prosecutors must automatically presume that would-be victims feared for their lives if attacked.

The overwhelming vote margins and bipartisan support for the Florida gun bill -- it passed unanimously in the state Senate and was approved 94 to 20 in the state House, with nearly a dozen Democratic co-sponsors -- have alarmed some national gun-control advocates, who say a measure that made headlines in Florida slipped beneath their radar.

"I am in absolute shock," Sarah Brady, chair of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said in an interview. "If I had known about it, I would have been down there."

The lessons of history do not bode well for gun-control groups and their leaders, such as Brady, who became a crusader after President Ronald Reagan and her husband, then-White House press secretary James S. Brady, were seriously wounded in a 1981 assassination attempt.

Florida has a track record as a gun-law trendsetter. In the mid-1980s, the NRA chose Florida to launch a push for "conceal carry" or "right-to-carry" laws, which allow states to issue permits for residents to carry firearms. Democrat Bob Graham, who was then governor, vetoed the measure, but it was resurrected after he left office and was signed in 1987 by Gov. Bob Martinez, a Republican.

At the time, fewer than a dozen states had right-to-carry laws. Now there are 38.

LaPierre thinks the new Florida measure -- nicknamed the "Castle Doctrine" by its conceiver, Florida lobbyist Marion P. Hammer, a former NRA president -- can create the same momentum.

[Norm357]

Hwo will the New Fl Law effect Law Enforcement?

It wont, but the antis will have their panties in a wad for a while because of this.

[MCCO]

It wont, but the antis will have their panties in a wad for a while because of this.

Aint that the truth. There all ready starting in on it.

I have a CCW and I don't go looking for trouble but its nice to know that if someone threatens me I can at least defend my self in a reasonable manner.

[bhanson]

Me I think its about time. If I am threatned then I should have the right to defend myself and meet the force head on. Its not in my nature to back down.

Do you think the new law will turn Fl into the Old West? How does it effect law enforcement?

Florida's change is self defense law is virtually identical to what Missouri Statutes have said for many years. It will have no effect on anything except to provide more protection to citizens who elect to defend themselves from an attacker.

The "Wild West" BS is just that!

[MCCO]

The liberals (No offense to liberals) are already crying foul.

That is where the wild west comment came from.

I think its needed and adds a measure to the law abiding citizen to protect him or her self from harm.

[kels]

This is a two edged sword. Is it good for the law abiding people, YES.
However, there is always a bottom feeder waiting to SUE you after you
use deadly force.

[Valor55]

Florida is not new at this. My state has allowed whatever force is reasonable and necessary to defend yourself for quite some time. We don't have wild west shoot outs and duels in the street. The media was screaming like Chicken Little every time some state approved shall issue CCW permits because there would be shoot outs and blood baths. That never materialized either. This law in Florida is a non event.

[chewy]

Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday he intends to sign a bill that would allow people who feel threatened -- even on the street or at a baseball game -- to "meet force with force" and defend themselves without fear of prosecution.

They’re just now getting a law about that??? We've had the ability of "self defense" for centuries...

And what the hell is the difference if you get attacked at a "baseball game or on the street" as apposed to any other location in the universe??? Man you guys are *** backwards down there. Oh, if someone attacks you and you're in fear of your life you can defend yourself...as long as you're on private property... That's just stupid sounding.

[cntryboy0531]

They’re just now getting a law about that??? We've had the ability of "self defense" for centuries...

And what the hell is the difference if you get attacked at a "baseball game or on the street" as apposed to any other location in the universe??? Man you guys are *** backwards down there. Oh, if someone attacks you and you're in fear of your life you can defend yourself...as long as you're on private property... That's just stupid sounding.

Under the old law if your out in public you could only use deadly force if you can't retreat. :rolleyes:

Some of our laws are good. Others suck.

[oscarmitre]

How about the potential for abuse? I mean I wouldn't have to be a top criminal lawyer to get an assailant a not guilty verdict if I could weave this self defence law through the "facts" in front of the jury.

[Ranger__101]

It really won't affect the LE much. Where the decisions will be made is in civil and criminal court if when some one gets sued or charged with using excessive / unnecessary force in repelling an attack or threat.

An example would be if person (A) makes verbal threats to person (B).
Person (B) gets a baseball bat and beats the daylights out of person (A)

Person (B) is going to get charged with battery or some other crime because they used more force then reasonabaly necessary.

I have not seen the actual text of the bill, but I would hope there is text that states what is considered resonable and necessary force.

[ChesCopPodz]

As Valor said, our law has been like that forever, no problems here. I've yet to ever see anyone who was truthfully defending themself be prosecuted.