Repeal Stand Your Ground

We support Democratic lawmakers who filed a lawsuit in state court last week seeking to overturn the Stand Your Ground law that Republicans smuggled across the legislative finish line and snuck in as a last-minute amendment to an unrelated bill. And, please, before the drone of gun rights calls, take-our-guns-away hyperbole from the right gets all revved up, just think how we got here and for what. If this was a legitimate bill, supporters would have allowed a full debate on it. Instead they sneaked it in and got approved like thieves in the night, knowing it cannot stand up to legitimate scrutiny. The national NAACP and every local chapter of the NAACP, including the Sandusky one and Sandusky County, and more than a dozen other rights groups and responsible gun rights groups oppose this law and have presented Republicans with evidence that its passage will mean more Black men will be unjustifiably killed by whit people. This is not "stand your ground." It's not a "duty to retreat" law, either, as supporters who misrepresented its meaning the first time by mis-titling the legislation misrepresented it again when they re-titled it after getting called out for being deceptive. It's not that, as critics say. It's not about "standing" your ground or the "duty to retreat." It is titled "chase and kill," as critics call it, because that's what it prescribes. This law should be repealed. * Read related news coverage at the links below.