Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law wasn’t always so
controversial. The law, which gives citizens the right to use deadly
force if they “reasonably believe” they are in danger, has been the
subject of national scrutiny in the wake of Trayvon Martin’s death. But
the statute former Governor Jeb Bush signed in April 2005 enjoyed broad
bipartisan support in the Sunshine State legislature. It sailed through
the Senate unanimously, 39-0, and faced only token Democratic opposition
in the House, where it passed 94-20.
The statute’s success was partly a function of propitious timing. In
2005, Florida had just been racked by post-hurricane looting, including
the incident the bill’s architects cite as their inspiration, in which
an elderly man shot and killed a burglar who broke into his RV. The man
was left in legal limbo, says Dennis Baxley, the Florida Republican who
sponsored the House bill, as authorities wrestled with whether his
actions were protected by the so-called Castle Doctrine, a theory
derived from English common law that permits property owners to use
force to defend themselves in their own homes. “We wanted citizens to
know that if they are attacked, the presumption will be with them, and
we will empower them to stop a violent act from occurring,” Baxley says.
By his telling, Stand Your Ground was an effort to codify those
protections.
