Now that gun owners are beginning to understand what they can do legally with that gun in a self-defense situation, the body count is sure to increase.I guess the author would prefer the old-fashioned "guilty-until-proven-innocent" approach.
In November 2005, Gov. Bush signed into law the NRA's law, which he called a great crime-fighting tool. It passed the Senate by a unanimous vote and 94 to 20 in the House. Could one not reasonably assume, with such an endorsement from our state government, that this law not only represented the right thing, but the legal thing you can do with that gun?
If you are not doing anything illegal, and if you are in a place you have a right to be, you do not have to retreat, you can meet force with force, and if you feel reasonably afraid for great bodily harm or death, you can use deadly force. Be sure to use a gun and not a club or knife, because the NRA will come to your defense only if you use a gun.
The language of this new law is the kind of bravado the NRA hopes will hide the real problems with this new law. In a shooting, before this law was passed, the shooter had to prove the act was justified.
Now with the NRA law, law enforcement and prosecutors have the law turned on its head; now they must prove the shooting was not justified!
By the way, Arthur, if you bothered to read the actual text of the law, you'll see that it applies to deadly force. The choice of one's tool of personal protection is irrelevant.
And unless I'm mistaken, the NRA doesn't enforce laws. This particular law will be enforced by the law enforcement system of the state of Florida.
