Alphecca

AU Shucks...

They don't think much of Florida's new "Castle Doctrine" law down under in Australia. From the Australian Broadcasting Network:

HAMISH ROBERTSON: Finally to the United States, where residents of Florida have just been allowed to use deadly force at any time they feel threatened.

The new law has passed through the state legislature with the backing of the powerful National Rifle Association.

This means that people will be able to defend themselves, to the death if necessary, without any obligation to retreat, which is what the old law required.

As our North America Correspondent Leigh Sales reports, opponents of the change say it's going to turn Florida into a new version of the Wild West.

LEIGH SALES: Eighteen months ago, Greg Drewes lost his teenage son, Mark.

GREG DREWES: That's him, that's Mark. That's about three weeks before it happened.

LEIGH SALES: Mark and his mates were out one night, playing doorknocking pranks. Jay Levin was one of their targets. He was home alone and heard noises outside, imagining it was a burglar. He opened his front door, gun in hand, just as Mark was running away. In panic, Jay Levin shot Mark Drewes in the back, killing him.

Mr Levin was charged with manslaughter because under Florida's old laws, that level of force was considered excessive.

But this week, the law changed, and today, Mr Levin would be innocent of any wrongdoing.

[...]

Now, any Florida resident defend a manslaughter or murder charge by proving that they felt threatened.

Florida Governor Jeb Bush defends the change.

JEB BUSH: When there's a life-threatening situation, to have to retreat and put yourself in a very precarious position defies common sense.

LEIGH SALES: The powerful National Rifle Association lobbied hard for the new law.

Marion Hammer is an NRA lobbyist.

MARION HAMMER: The law is constructed to give law-abiding people the right to protect themselves when they're attacked. I think the message to criminals is going to be – you break into a home, you run the risk of being shot; you attack people on the street, you run the risk of being shot.

LEIGH SALES: Greg Drewes, the father of the teenager who was killed while playing practical jokes, believes the new law is wide open to abuse.

GREG DREWES: If you shoot somebody in anger, what are you going to say? I did it, I made a mistake, I wasn't in danger at all, take me away. They're all going to lie. They're all going to say I did it protecting myself; I was in definite fear of my life.

But more important is the fact that this law became necessary because firstly, the courts were sending mutants back out on the street with little more than a slap-on-the-wrist. Most first and second time thugs and burglars and assaulters never saw the inside of a jail cell after sentencing.

Secondly, very often the victims were "turned into the defendents" by various criminal and civil suit lawyers.

What this law does is give the rights back to the victims, the law-abiding citizens.

And you know what? If mutants are so afraid they might be killed for attempting burglary and rape and assault, maybe they won't do it. They might not fear the courts but maybe now they will fear their potential victims. Just maybe they'll learn to control themselves and find an honest way to earn a living.

As Robert A. Heinlein once said, "An armed society is a polite society."