Gun rights legislation that allowed people to shoot first when they feel scared that was enacted by many states in the past decade can be directly linked to an 11% increase in the number of homicides by gun, a new study reported by the Washington Post finds.
“Stand Your Ground” legislation, as it is known, became the lynchpin of a multi-state attack by the far-right lobbying group known as ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. The laws basically remove any requirement for people to retreat when threatened instead of immediately firing their firearm. Also, they lower the standard for use of a weapon, from a real threat to any perceived threat.
In a report published Monday in JAMA Network Open, researchers found that more than 700 deaths annually since 2012, the year Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman. The study found most of those deaths happened in the South, which adopted Stand Your Ground laws early and where gun possession is encouraged by the GOP.