"Stand Your Ground" is an Unconstitutional License to Kill

“Stand your ground” is nothing more than a license to kill without a trial. Yes, it should be repealed. More than repealed, it should be declared “unconstitutional,” a violation of the civil rights of the intended victim.

As we saw in the Zimmerman case, it clearly was a subjective decision as to whether to shoot, to shoot to kill or withdraw. It was also a subjective decision for the jury as to whether he was guilty of murder or manslaughter. Unfortunately these subjective decisions make it easy for other factors to be covered up, for example, racism.

All the major faith groups have spoken out against these “Stand your ground” legislation. The Catholic Church, for example, would argue that there were alternatives to killing the other person. Zimmerman was armed and twice the size and age of Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman was in his prime at 29. It was neither a fair fight nor a necessary fight, and in any case, there were alternatives to killing Trayvon.

The difficulty in repealing or declaring these laws unconstitutional comes from the likely opposition of the gun industry (NRA) and some Republicans. The fact that it would be difficult should not discourage us from doing what is morally right.