Twenty years ago, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush signed the first "stand your ground" law, calling it a "good, common-sense, anti-crime issue."
The law's creators promised it would protect law-abiding citizens from prosecution if they used force in self-defense. Then-Florida state Rep. Dennis Baxley, who cosponsored the bill, claimed -- in the wake of George Zimmerman's controversial acquittal for the killing of Trayvon Martin -- that "we're really safer if we empower people to stop violent acts."
I'm a historian who has studied the roots of stand your ground laws. I published a book on the subject in 2017. My ongoing investigation of the laws suggests that, 20 years on, they have not made communities any safer, nor have they helped prevent crime. In fact, there is reliable evidence they have done just the opposite.
In the past 20 years, stand your ground has spread to 38 states.
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