NAACP: Stand Your Ground Law Not to Blame in Taryvon Martin Shooting

[pipoman]

44. I'm not saying this incident

is justified or that it isn't. Not enough is known yet. Certainly the initial reports made it sound that Zimmerman provoked this incident.

I really wasn't commenting on this case in particular, I was commenting on the reason for the law in the first place. This case aside, in general..It is true that more people are murdered using hands and feet than with rifles, so whether or not an attacker has a knife or gun is immaterial to whether the person is a threat or if a shooting is justified. The absense of a weapon doesn't automatically prove a person was innocent.

I'm not convinced that there aren't far more people who benefit than who suffer because of this law. In the same way that alcohol has killed many, many innocent people yet nobody is calling for alcohol prohibition. Many things which are legal have a side effect of hurting innocent people, while they are statistically beneficial. I want to see a study of the numbers. I don't believe in legislating based on anecdote.