Roughly half the states in the country have refused to enact Shoot First laws, also called Stand Your Ground laws, which allow people to shoot and kill in public even if they can safely walk away from the situation. Traditional self-defense laws allow people to use deadly force in public only in dangerous situations where they can’t easily retreat. But Shoot First encourages avoidable violence and vigilantism. A full description on Shoot First is here.
The Impact
These laws dramatically escalate violence, leading to 150 additional gun deaths each month nationwide—with an increase of 32% in Florida’s gun homicide rate alone. And they drastically reduce consequences, with homicides in which white shooters kill Black victims deemed justifiable five times more frequently than when the situation is reversed.
