Joe Henderson
This was a pretty famous case. You might remember it.
On Nov. 23, 2012, Michael David Dunn was at a gas station in Jacksonville when he got into an argument with 17-year-old Jordan Davis, who was there with some friends. It seems the music coming from Davis’ car was too way loud for Dunn’s taste.
There was an argument, which ended with Dunn going back to his car to retrieve a loaded handgun. He had a concealed-weapons permit for the gun.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
He fired off 10 shots in the car killing Davis, who was unarmed. He then went out for a pizza.
Dunn claimed he felt threatened and invoked Florida’s Stand Your Ground defense.
His first trial ended in a hung jury, but he was convicted in a retrial and is now serving life in prison without parole. If — well, when — the same thing happens in the future, though, the Florida Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott have greatly increased the odds the next shooter will go free.
Scott signed a bill, introduced and passed by Republicans with a party-line vote, that could make it difficult (if not impossible) for prosecutors to convict anyone invoking Stand Your Ground. Prosecutors will now have to prove a shooter didn’t feel threatened and, well, how can they do that?
The National Rifle Association, of course, doesn’t see it that way. In a release after the new bill became law, Marion Hammer — NRA Grand Dame and Executive Director of the Unified Sportsmen of Florida — celebrated the new law that, in her words, “ … places the burden of proof back on the state where it belongs. And it restores the right of the presumption of innocence and the right of self-defense.”
Well, not exactly.
Let’s say there is video of a shooting along the lines of what happened in Jacksonville, where a guy goes back to his car and gets his gun and starts blasting away. Well, what are you going to believe — your lyin’ eyes, or the argument Dunn tried to make that he thought he saw a shotgun in Davis’ car?
There was no shotgun, but Davis’ swears he thought he saw one. Going forward, the state would have to prove he made that up to cover his tracks.
Oh, but wait … the NRA isn’t through expanding what it laughably calls “gun rights.”
How long will it be before some legislative lap dog tries to push through a “permitless carry” law in Florida? Such a measure would allow anyone who would otherwise qualify for a license to carry permit to do so without the burden of obtaining a license.
Don’t laugh.
Twelve states already have that law, and it apparently came close to passing this year in Texas. When North Dakota adopted that law in March, the NRA noted in a release that it, “ … reduces the burden of government fees and mandates on citizens who choose to exercise their Second Amendment right to self-protection.”
Does it ever stop?
I know, silly question.
One comment
Jason Hugg
June 12, 2017 at 1:16 pm
You’re scaring people and sensationalizing a change in legal procedure that actually protects people. When someone goes looking for trouble like Mr Dunn did, they will go to jail. What this law does do is protect people like Marrissa Alexander, who shot at her husband who had a history of beating her, but then she’s the one who goes to jail. F$ck you liberal a$$holes who don’t want to protect yourselves. You will never create utopia.
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