Ignorant yahoo

Paul Krugman writes:

Florida’s now-infamous Stand Your Ground law, which lets you shoot someone you consider threatening without facing arrest, let alone prosecution, sounds crazy – and it is. And it’s tempting to dismiss this law as the work of ignorant yahoos.

The Stand Your Ground law does not enable someone to avoid arrest for shooting someone “you consider threatening”. It merely codifies what has been common law since at least Biblical times. If you are reasonably in fear of seriously body harm or death then you are protected from prosecution and civil action if you use deadly force to protect innocent life rather than having an obligation to attempt escape.

As people have known for quite sometime you shouldn’t live in a glass house if you are going to throw stones. If Krugman is looking for someone to call an ignorant yahoo he only need look as far as the nearest mirror.

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4 thoughts on “Ignorant yahoo

  1. No. But it does depend on you are legally allowed to be there. If you are tresspassing for example then it is a completely different story.

  2. It’s amazing how many supposedly serious journalists are willing to speak out against Stand Your Ground laws without doing the five minutes of research it would take to see what the law actually allows.

    Of course it’s more likely that Krugman did the research only to disregard it as it didn’t fit the narrative he wanted to use.

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