Beyond Trayvon: How ‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws Spread from Florida to Half the U.S.

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.            Full Read