It’s just a legal license to kill
The NY Times had this on the shooting of Ralph Yarl in Kansas City:
Chief Graves said that the teenager was expected to give a formal statement to investigators when his injuries allow. She also said that there was a “potential” self-defense or “stand your ground” element that investigators were examining.
But the following day, Mayor Lucas said that Missouri’s Stand Your Ground law, which was adopted in 2016, should not apply in this case.
“If Stand Your Ground really lets somebody just shoot somebody that rings a doorbell,” he said, “that put the life of every postal worker, every campaigner, every Amazon delivery person at risk in this country.”
I’m sure the man believes he was standing his ground because he “felt threatened” when a Black teenager rang his doorbell.
Then there’s the man in New York who shot at a car that accidentally turned into the wrong driveway and killed a young woman as the car was turning around. I’m sure he believes he was “standing his ground” too.
Every person’s life is at risk in this country because of this proliferation of guns and laws that allow people to shoot others with impunity. All they have to do is say they were afraid for people like Texas Governor Greg Abbott to claim they had a right to shoot them. These laws are becoming the norm all over the country.
We used to have a “duty to retreat” if at all possible. You weren’t allowed to shott people simply because you were afraid if you could have gotten away. And you couldn’t just kill people you thought might want to steal property. Today, people are being told they have a god-given right to kill anyone they want and claim they felt threatened. That killer in Texas actually wrote that on Facebook. And some of them are doing it.
This is gun culture. It’s an atrocity.