There's No Appetite For Repealing Stand Your Ground Laws

In response to Obama Delivers the Zimmerman Coda:

Yes, Obama was sending a signal to his “loyal media bots” to focus their attention on SYG laws, but not because he thinks they will be repealed.

As CBS/AP reports, there’s little chance of that happening.

“I support stand your ground,” Republican Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said last week.

“I do not see any reason to change it,” said Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, also a Republican.

At least 21 states have laws similar to that in Florida, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Many are conservative and lean toward laws that defend gun owners’ rights. So far, there does not appear to be an appetite in Florida or other states to repeal or change the laws, which generally eliminate a person’s duty to retreat in the face of a serious physical threat. In fact, some states are moving in the opposite direction.

The Associate Prof of political science at George Washington University perhaps unintentionally put his finger on what is really happening.

“The debate about stand-your-ground laws largely reproduces existing divisions in American politics, particularly between blacks and whites and between Democrats and Republicans,” said John Sides, associate professor of political science at George Washington University.

This is what the Divider in Chief does. Splitting us apart is his stock in trade.

By the way, Illinois Review revealed yesterday that back in 2004, state Senator Barack Obama co-sponsored an expansion of the state’s Stand Your Ground law.