Repeal Shoot First Laws

What does this solve?

Shoot First, also known as Stand Your Ground, laws allow a person to shoot and kill another person in a public area even when there are clear and safe ways to retreat from a dangerous situation. These laws threaten public safety by encouraging armed vigilantism.

Shoot First laws encourage avoidable escalation of violence, and they do not deter crime. Under traditional self-defense law, a person can use force to defend themselves anywhere. If they’re outside their home, though, they can’t use force that is likely to kill or seriously injure someone if there’s a safe way to avoid it. These laws give people a license to shoot and kill in public, even if they started the confrontation and even when they can safely walk away from the danger. Shoot First laws are associated with increases in gun deaths¹Michelle Degli Esposti et al., “Analysis of ‘Stand Your Ground’ Self-Defense Laws and Statewide Rates of Homicides and Firearm Homicides,” JAMA Network Open 5, no. 2 (February 21, 2022): e220077, https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.0077; Marc Levy et al., “Stand Your Ground: Policy and Trends in Firearm-Related Justifiable Homicide and Homicide in the US,” Journal of the American College of Surgeons 230, no. 1 (2020): 161-167.e4, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2019.11.003; Abdul Munasib, Genti Kostandini, and Jeffrey L. Jordan, “Impact of the Stand Your Ground Law on Gun Deaths: Evidence of a Rural Urban Dichotomy,” European Journal of Law and Economics 45, no. 3 (June 2018): 527–54, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10657-018-9581-z; Cassandra Crifasi et al., “Correction to: Association Between Firearm Laws and Homicide in Urban Counties,” Journal of Urban Health 95, no. 5 (October 15, 2018): 773–76, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-018-0306-y; Cassandra K. Crifasi et al., “Association Between Firearm Laws and Homicide in Urban Counties,” Journal of Urban Health 95, no. 3 (2018): 383–90, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-018-0273-3; David K. Humphreys, Antonio Gasparrini, and Douglas J. Wiebe, “Evaluating the Impact of Florida’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ Self-Defense Law on Homicide and Suicide by Firearm: An Interrupted Time Series Study,” JAMA Internal Medicine 177, no. 1 (January 2017): 44–50, https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.6811; David K. Humphreys, Antonio Gasparrini, and Douglas J. Wiebe, “Association Between Enactment of a ‘Stand Your Ground’ Self-Defense Law and Unlawful Homicides in Florida,” JAMA Internal Medicine 177, no. 10 (October 2017): 1523–24, https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.3433; Benjamin Ukert, Douglas J. Wiebe, and David K. Humphreys, “Regional Differences in the Impact of the ‘Stand Your Ground’ Law in Florida,” Preventive Medicine 115 (October 2018): 68–75, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2018.08.010; Michelle Degli Esposti et al., “Increasing Adolescent Firearm Homicides and Racial Disparities Following Florida’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ Self-Defence Law,” Injury Prevention, December 20, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1136/injuryprev-2019-043530. and injuries,²Chandler McClellan and Erdal Tekin, “Stand Your Ground Laws, Homicides, and Injuries,” Journal of Human Resources 52, no. 3 (2017): 621–53, https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.52.3.0613-5723R2; Justin Lee et al., “Guns and States: Pediatric Firearm Injury,” Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery 75, no. 1 (July 2013): 50–53, https://doi.org/10.1097/TA.0b013e3182999b7a. and disproportionately impact communities of color.³Everytown Research analysis of FBI Supplementary Homicide Report, 2014 to 2018; John Roman, “Race, Justifiable Homicide, and Stand Your Ground Laws: Analysis of FBI Supplementary Homicide Report Data” (Urban Institute, July 2013), https://urbn.is/3mHnU1E; Nicole Ackermann et al., “Race, Law, and Health: Examination of ‘Stand Your Ground’ and Defendant Convictions in Florida,” Social Science & Medicine 142 (2015): 194–201, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.08.012. Lawmakers should put the safety of their constituents first and repeal these dangerous laws in their states.

Which states have rejected Shoot First laws?

21 states have rejected this policy

Shoot First laws encourage escalated violence.

A License to Kill: Shoot First Laws, also known as Stand Your Ground Fact Sheet

Traditional self-defense law gives people the right to protect themselves, but also recognizes that it is always best to avoid killing someone if possible. It does not require a person to retreat from a situation if retreating would put them in danger, but requires a person to avoid killing another if there is a clear and safe way to do so. Shoot First laws distort the public perception of lawful self-defense and encourage people to shoot first and ask questions later.

Shoot First laws are associated with increases in firearm homicide and overall homicide rates resulting in 700 additional deaths each year.¹Michelle Degli Esposti et al., “Analysis of ‘Stand Your Ground’ Self-Defense Laws and Statewide Rates of Homicides and Firearm Homicides,” JAMA Network Open 5, no. 2 (February 21, 2022): e220077, https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.0077. At the state level, these laws have been associated with considerable increases in gun deaths, including unintentional deaths: 6 to 7 percent more gun deaths occurred in suburban counties²Abdul Munasib, Genti Kostandini, and Jeffrey L. Jordan, “Impact of the Stand Your Ground Law on Gun Deaths: Evidence of a Rural Urban Dichotomy,” European Journal of Law and Economics 45, no. 3 (June 2018): 527–54, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10657-018-9581-z. and 8 percent more gun deaths occurred in urban counties in states that adopted these laws.³Cassandra Crifasi et al., “Correction to: Association Between Firearm Laws and Homicide in Urban Counties,” Journal of Urban Health 95, no. 5 (October 15, 2018): 773–76, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-018-0306-y; Cassandra K. Crifasi et al., “Association Between Firearm Laws and Homicide in Urban Counties,” Journal of Urban Health 95, no. 3 (2018): 383–90, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-018-0273-3.

Shoot First laws disproportionately impact communities of color.⁴Everytown analysis of FBI Supplementary Homicide Report, 2014 to 2018; John Roman, “Race, Justifiable Homicide, and Stand Your Ground Laws: Analysis of FBI Supplementary Homicide Report Data” (Urban Institute, July 2013), https://urbn.is/3mHnU1E; Nicole Ackermann et al., “Race, Law, and Health: Examination of ‘Stand Your Ground’ and Defendant Convictions in Florida,” Social Science & Medicine 142 (2015): 194–201, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.08.012. In states with these laws, homicides in which white shooters kill Black victims are deemed justifiable five times more frequently than when the situation is reversed.⁵Everytown Research analysis of FBI Supplementary Homicide Report, 2014 to 2018.

By the numbers

In states with Shoot First laws, homicides in which white shooters kill Black victims are deemed justifiable five times more frequently than when the situation is reversed.

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32%

The implementation of Florida’s Shoot First law was associated with a 32 percent increase in monthly firearm homicide rates.

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23–45%

Florida’s Shoot First law was associated with a 45 percent increase in monthly firearm homicide rates among white residents and a 23 percent increase among Black residents.

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3 in 5

Roughly three out of every five people in Florida claiming Shoot First had prior arrests before killing someone and invoking the law, with about one-third of these defendants having previously been arrested for serious crimes like assault and robbery.

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Shoot first laws are necessary to prevent harm.

None of the research on these laws has found it to prevent violent crime.¹Rosanna Smart et al., “Stand-Your-Ground Laws,” in The Science of Gun Policy: A Critical Synthesis of Research Evidence on the Effects of Gun Policies in the United States, Second Edition (RAND Corporation, 2020), 235–50, http://www.rand.org/t/RR2088-1; RAND Corporation, “The Effects of Stand-Your-Ground Laws,” April 22, 2020, https://bit.ly/3ay1a1y; RAND Corporation, “Gun Policy Research Review,” Gun Policy in America, accessed December 11, 2020, https://bit.ly/3mEwq1w. In fact, in most cases, you can avoid a conflict when one party retreats. For example, in the majority of Florida Shoot First cases, the person who invoked the law could have safely retreated to avoid the confrontation.²Chris Davis, “Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law,” Tampa Bay Times, June 3, 2012, https://bit.ly/3c1KZub.