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Recent shootings renew ‘stand your ground’ debates
Jonee Lewis reports
TAMPA, Fla. - There have been several reported mistaken shootings happening across the country.
The incidents stemming from going to the wrong car, wrong door or wrong driveway have prompted new debates about "stand your ground" laws.
"When there's so much emphasis on crime, which is you're telling a fact. Yes, absolutely, average citizens are afraid. But the problem is they're afraid to the point where they're taking it to the extreme," Bryant Camareno, a criminal defense attorney, said.
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According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, at least 28 states have a form of a stand your ground law, including Florida.
The laws allow a person to use force, including deadly force, against another when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or herself or another against the other’s imminent use of unlawful force.
Advocates say it’s time to reconsider these laws and their impact on public safety.
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"I think the expansion of gun policies in general that there are people encouraged to own more guns, carry guns in public and use their guns in self-defense more often. You know, that makes these kinds of shootings more likely to happen," Kelly Drane with Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence said.
It’s yet to be determined how any self-defense law could play out in cases happening nationally.