MIAMI — Welcome to Florida, the Sunshine State. Please avoid unnecessary arguments with locals. Starting today, they may be more inclined to shoot you -- at least that's essentially the message from a national gun-control organization as a Florida law goes into effect empowering people who feel threatened to use force, including firearms, to protect themselves.
Before, if possible, they were supposed to back down or run away.
"It's unlike any supposed self-defense statute in America," said Peter Hamm, communications director for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "It empowers people who are on edge and have violent tendencies to presume a situation is dangerous to them that may not be."
Proponents of the law, which was championed by the National Rifle Assn., counter that it sends an unequivocal message both to would-be assailants and innocent citizens that potential victims have the legal option of protecting themselves.
"Running away is a good way to get shot in the back, raped or otherwise harmed," said state Rep. Dennis K. Baxley, a sponsor of the law.
Under a legal concept derived from English Common Law, known as the "Castle Doctrine," it has been long held that people have the right to stand their ground if attacked in their home. Baxley, a Republican from Ocala, said the new legislation explicitly enshrined that principle in Florida statutes and extended the concept of a person's "castle" to personal space in a car or anywhere else he or she is entitled to be.
"We want people to know that the law contains a presumption that they have the right to protect themselves," Baxley said.
Previously under Florida law, people acting in self-defense outside their home or workplace were supposed to use any reasonable means at hand to escape the danger, including retreat. The new law says they can "meet force with force."
Last spring, the legislation sailed through the Florida House on a 94-20 vote, was unopposed in the state Senate and was signed by Gov. Jeb Bush. That was despite opposition from some of the state's police chiefs, including John F. Timoney of Miami, and a tepid reaction from the Florida Sheriff's Assn., which, according to lobbyist Frank Messersmith, withdrew its opposition after a wording change but never actually came out in favor of the bill.
State Rep. Eleanor Sobel (D-Hollywood), one of the few lawmakers to vote against the bill, said she was worried it could turn the streets of Florida into a latter-day version of the Wild West.
