Failing to Find Fault with Stand Your Ground Laws

Miguel over at Gun-Free Zone pointed out the current results of the Florida study that was put together in an attempt to find fault with the state’s stand your ground law. Needless to say the study has found nothing demonstrating anything negative about the stand your ground legislation so they’re listing the study as inconclusive:

Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll has repeatedly said that the task force commissioned to look into Florida’s controversial “stand your ground” law will make its decision based on facts, not emotions.

But Carroll and 18 other task force members learned Wednesday that those facts — like many stand your ground cases — can be difficult to pin down.

A University of Florida professor presented a slew of data tracking trends in crime, gun ownership and tourism since the 2005, but ultimately concluded that no definitive connections could be made yet to the stand your ground law.

“The data that we collected in response to the task force request is insufficient to provide a conclusion on this issue,” said professor Monique Haughton Worrell of UF’s law school. “It’s a complex issue, requiring complex analysis.”

That last paragraph is a long winded way of saying they want to continue collecting a pay check for performing this unneeded study. Why do I say the study is unneeded? Because stand your ground legislation is merely the legalization of self-defense, which one shouldn’t need special state permission to do. Stand your ground legislation merely states that you have a right to defend yourself against an aggressor anywhere you have a right to be. It doesn’t give you the right to murder somebody in cold blood or to trespass on another’s property and claim self-defense if you attack the owner when he tries to remove you. It’s common sense and shouldn’t even need to be legalized by legislation, legitimate self-defense should never be illegal.