Birmingham Residents to Protest Alabama Shoot First Legislation

[struggle4progress]

Sunday Afternoon Rally Planned in Advance of Tuesday Senate Hearing

State legislators in Alabama are hoping to pass a bill that will enable the most aggressive and paranoid individuals in the state to use deadly force against a presumed assailant. The bill has already passed the state House and awaits action in the state Senate.

The law, known alternatively as the "shoot first law," "wild, wild west law," or "Stand Your Ground" law, made Florida a virtual laughingstock when it became law there last October, generating news coverage around the world suggesting that visitors might face risk. And the only person to use the law as a defense of deadly force so far is a tow truck driver who shot a man trying to retrieve his car.

"Martin Luther King once said 'nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity,'" said Jim Brady, the former press secretary to President Reagan who was shot in the Reagan assassination attempt. "This bill is a dangerous solution to a non-existent problem. No one's in jail in Alabama for acting in legitimate self-defense. This bill would encourage overly aggressive people to act recklessly, and might well keep people out of jail who deserve to be there."

A group of concerned Alabamans are planning a rally at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 12 at the Jefferson County Courthouse, 716 Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard North (old 21ST Street North). They will be wearing bright orange t-shirts with "Innocent Bystander" on the front. <snip>

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=62206