Stand Your Ground Laws Must Stand

From The Buckeye Firearms Association By Jeff Knox, July 30, 2013

Those who are calling for the repeal of “stand your ground laws” are ignoring the fact that “standing your ground” is a self-defense standard which has been settled law in the US since the 1920s. Today’s state Stand Your Ground laws like Florida’s are based in the U.S. Supreme Court decision of Brown v. U.S., 256 U.S. 335 (1921), in which Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. stated; “The right of a man to stand his ground and defend himself when attacked with a deadly weapon, even to the extent of taking his assailant’s life, depends upon whether he reasonably believes that he is in immediate danger of death or grievous bodily harm from his assailant, and not upon the detached test whether a man of reasonable prudence, so situated, might not think it possible to fly with safety or to disable his assailant, rather than kill him. …”

Justice Holmes went on to say; “Detached reflection cannot be demanded in the presence of an uplifted knife.” Or, it could be reasonably added, an uplifted fist or conveniently located slab of sidewalk.

Stand Your Ground must continue to stand as the law of the land.