The fearmongers
You’ve heard about this, yes? The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence wants to make you fearful of traveling to Florida. If you’re a criminal, you probably should be fearful. Pay close attention to what the Brady Campaign is saying; its admonitions bear on your work. But if you’re a normal person, ignore the Brady Campaign’s distortions and enjoy the sunshine.
• For your reference, this is the text of Florida’s “stand your ground law.”
• The so-called “Castle Doctrine” is the law in almost every state of the United States. This doctrine says that your home is your castle and if confronted by an intruder, you have no duty to retreat, even if you can safely do so. In other words, you can stand your ground in your own home.
• In most jurisdictions of the United States, including my own state of Texas, the Castle Doctrine does not allow a homeowner to assume an intruder’s violent intent. (Perhaps he’s unarmed and only there to rip you off.) Before the homeowner can use lawful deadly force, the intruder must engage in an overt act, such as displaying a weapon, that would cause a reasonable person to fear imminent death or great bodily injury. In other words, the Castle Doctrine is generally understood to say that while the homeowner can stand his ground, he cannot shoot straight away.
• Florida’s new law alters this understanding of the Castle Doctrine. If a hoodlum “unlawfully” and “forcibly” enters someone’s home, the homeowner is entitled to assume criminal intent and shoot.
• Only you know whether on your next trip to Florida you plan to break into someone’s home and whether this change in the law is therefore of concern to you. If not, don’t worry about it. (By the way, a change in the law does not necessarily mean a change in practice; in fact, a change in law may reflect practice. Homeowners everywhere become justifiably upset and fearful upon discovering that hoodlums have invaded their homes; sometimes they shoot first and ask questions later. And, as this lawyer notes, juries are frequently inclined to take the word of a living homeowner — “I thought he had a gun” — over that of a dead burglar. In other words, whatever the local understanding of the Castle Doctrine, it’s often a very dangerous proposition to burgle someone’s home. This may explain why most burglaries take place in daytime when homeowners are usually out.)
• The new law expands the Castle Doctrine to include cars.
• It also allows Flordians to use deadly force in public — provided they reasonably fear imminent death or great bodily injury. This is the same standard as existed under the old law. The difference now is that Flordians no longer have a duty to retreat, even if they can safely do so. In other words, they can stand their ground, rather than running away, even in public. But the underlying standard for the lawful use of deadly force — a reasonable fear of imminent death or great bodily harm — has not changed. Under the old law, the citizen was obliged to spare the hoodlum’s hide if at all possible. Under the new law, the hoodlum’s fate is more fully in his own hands.
• Only you know whether on your next trip to Florida you plan to carjack someone, or to put them in reasonable fear of imminent death or great bodily harm and whether this change in the law is therefore of concern to you. If not, don’t worry about it.
• In sum, if you’re not a hoodlum, visit Florida. You’ll love it.