The rising numbers of homicides across the United States are closely attributed to the weak gun controls and stand your ground laws. According to the FBI data analysis, there has been a twenty five percent increase of civilian justifiable homicides since the introduction of the controversial self-defense laws from 2005.
Stand your ground measures, allows people to use deadly force when they consider their life to be under threat without requiring them to try to escape or retreat the threat first. The stand your ground law was first introduced in Florida in 2005 and similar measures have been adopted over the time in some form by more than twenty states.
The data from the FBI indicate that the homicide killing has risen sharply across the United States for the last eight years which are in contrast with the declining cases of violent crime over the same period.( Roman,2013,p.7) That analysis demonstrates that stand your ground laws are unsafe on their own as an approach and when they are combined with weak gun laws they are a recipe for disaster.
As the number of civilians with guns increase and almost all restrictions are removed to own a gun, there will be an increase in shooting in many areas. As additional states strive to allow the carrying of guns in bars, schools and other social areas, the stand your ground laws will remove any responsibility to diffuse a situation leading to a confrontational system of justice.
The fact that the offenders of justified homicides are getting away with murder due to weak laws will only work to encourage other people rapidly turn to use force instead of diffusing the situation. As long as the stand your ground laws remain, and other states keep on adopting them, the justified homicides will keep going up as it is harder to prove that a homicide case was not justified.
Reference
Roman, J. (2013). Race, Justifiable Homicide, and Stand Your Ground Laws: Analysis of FBI Supplementary Homicide Report Data.
