Duty to retreat vs stand your ground and castle laws: Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater

[Major Nikon]

52. "It elevates violent criminals over the law-abiding and innocent"

This is simply parroting the extreme rhetoric that nutjob Pierre and all the other crazies at the NRA used to pass these horrible laws.

Even if it were true (an it ain't even close to reality), one could just as easily say the existing law elevates criminals and idiots over the law-abiding and innocent, because that's exactly the effect the law has had.

Let's say your neighbor hears about a prowler next door, grabs a toy baseball bat, and goes to investigate. Then let's say his neighbor shoots him dead, and then claims they were in fear for their life. Not only does the shooter not get prosecuted, the family of the deceased can't even sue for negligence.

Or lets say you've been out drinking, and you accidentally knock on the wrong door and instead of locking the door and calling police, the person stupidly opens the door and shoots the drunk. Same outcome.

These are real stories of the problems with this law and there are plenty more. If this NRA written law wasn't on the books, Zimmerman would be awaiting his well deserved trial already, or better yet would have just stayed home playing with his gun (or his pistol).