Florida (Democratic state) senator files bill to change “stand your ground” law

http://politics.heraldtribune.com/2012/12/19/florida-senator-files-bill-to-change-stand-your-ground-law/

Armed citizens would not be able to automatically cite “stand your ground” protections if they provoke or pursue their assailants following confrontations, under a measure filed Wednesday by the Senate Democratic leader.

Responding to the death earlier this year of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old who was shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer, Minority Leader Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, introduced a bill (SB 136) that would also allow law enforcement officers to arrest suspects who invoke the state’s controversial stand-your-ground law under questionable circumstances.

“These common sense changes are not about taking away gun rights from Floridians,” Smith said in a statement. “It’s about stemming the culture of violence in our society by putting responsibility for the consequences back into the hands of gun users, and anyone who deploys deadly force under stand your ground.”

Existing law prohibits authorities from arresting stand-your-ground defendants unless there is probable cause to believe their actions were unlawful. The law is also unclear, Smith says, on whether someone can invoke the stand-your-ground law when they pursue their assailant.

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The Backlash is HERE

yup