Bills in four states that would let businesses deny service to gays and lesbians on religious-freedom grounds are based on the same faulty justification of Stand Your Ground laws on self-defense grounds. In both cases, the 1st and 2nd Amendments are perverted into defenses of vigilantism rather than protection of rights.
Second Amendment
Lock and Load: NRA-Willing, Florida Legislature Takes On Slew of New Gun Legislation
Bills dealing with toaster pastries and insurance policies are just two of more than a dozen gun-related measures lined up for the 2014 legislative session that starts Tuesday. As in previous years, many of them will go nowhere, especially if Marion Hammer, the National Rifle Association’s powerful Florida lobbyist, doesn’t like them.
Stand Your Ground: Florida is Not My Castle. And It’s Not Yours, Either.
The right to stand one’s ground against aggression in one’s home is unquestioned, but, argues Julie Delegal, in public, spaces must be shared, peacefully. The castle doctrine cannot be extended to cover the entire state, as Florida’s Stand Your Ground law does.
Russian Roulette: Gun Owners and Their Temperament
The decision to keep a gun handy makes you a bad risk—not only for insurance companies, but for those of us who feel we have a right to go to the movies, the mall, or sit in our own backyard without having to worry about a gun owner whose bursitis is acting up or who is simply having a bad day.
Florida Supreme Court Orders Review of Lethal Injection Cocktail Ahead of Feb. 26 Execution
Before the scheduled execution of inmate Paul Augustus Howell on Feb. 26, Justices have ordered a circuit court to hold an evidentiary hearing on whether substitution of the drug midazolam violates the constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment by the government.
NRA-Backed Bill Would End Zero-Tolerance Punishment of Students Play-Acting Guns at School
The NRA-backed measure by Florida House Judiciary Chairman Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, would prevent children from being disciplined for simulating a gun while playing or wearing clothes that depict firearms.
Florida Lawmakers Would Stiffen Penalties On Insurers Discriminating Against Gun Owners
Insurance companies could face tougher penalties if they impose higher rates, refuse to issue or cancel auto or homeowner policies due to gun ownership, under a measure backed by a House committee Tuesday.
Judge J. Michael Traynor’s Alarming Equivalence Between an Attempted Murderer and His Victim
When Judge J. Michael Traynor sentenced Nathaniel Juratovac to four years in prison for the attempted murder of Flagler County firefighter Jared Parkey last week, the judge managed to blame both men for the violent incident that led them to the courtroom, a stunning and immoral leveling of blame in a state that too easily excuses gun violence.
Double-Murder Charge Dropped as Stand Your Ground May Head for Supreme Court Review
The 3rd District Court of Appeals ruling Thursday overturned a lower court’s second-degree murder conviction of Gabriel Mobley outside a Chili’s restaurant in Opa-Locka, and could once again put Florida’s first-in-the nation “stand your ground” law and its meaning before the Florida Supreme Court.
Warning Shot Bill: Public Defenders Back a Revised Version of Marissa Alexander-Inspired Measure
Polk County Rep. Neil Combee sponsored the 2013 bill after hearing about Marissa Alexander, a Jacksonville woman who was sentenced to 20 years in prison under the 10-20-Life sentencing law for firing a gun into a wall during a fight with her husband. Combee said her sentence was an example of the “negative unintended consequences” of 10-20-Life, which requires mandatory-minimum prison terms for gun-related crimes.