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1/ Florida's @GovRonDeSantis has drafted legislation that would, in effect, empower armed white vigilantes to kill black people.
DeSantis wants to *expand* FL's Stand Your Ground law to allow armed citizens to shoot anyone engaged in “criminal mischief” that disrupts business
DeSantis wants to *expand* FL's Stand Your Ground law to allow armed citizens to shoot anyone engaged in “criminal mischief” that disrupts business
2/ @GovRonDeSantis' proposal would even offer immunity to drivers *who claim to have unintentionally killed or injured protesters who block traffic* https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article247094007.html
3/ Stand Your Ground laws -in place in 27 states- have *consistently been invoked as a defense for killing Black people.*
3 best known examples:
Trayvon Martin
Jordan Davis
Ahmaud Arbery
~30 ppl die EACH MONTH in a SYG-related incident in states with these laws enacted
3 best known examples:
Trayvon Martin
Jordan Davis
Ahmaud Arbery
~30 ppl die EACH MONTH in a SYG-related incident in states with these laws enacted
4/ A study found monthly gun homicide rate 
31% in FL & overall homicide rate 24% in the 10yrs after SYG
SYG is also not evenly enforced: in incidents where the victim was not white, the “stand your ground” defense was more likely to succeed https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/guns-crime/reports/2020/08/12/489284/untangling-gun-lobbys-web-self-defense-human-rights/
31% in FL & overall homicide rate 24% in the 10yrs after SYGSYG is also not evenly enforced: in incidents where the victim was not white, the “stand your ground” defense was more likely to succeed https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/guns-crime/reports/2020/08/12/489284/untangling-gun-lobbys-web-self-defense-human-rights/
5/ Under DeSantis' plan, Floridians involved in “violent or disorderly assemblies” would face stiffer penalties.
Blocking traffic during a protest would be a third-degree felony.
FL would withhold state funds from local governments that cut law enforcement budgets
Blocking traffic during a protest would be a third-degree felony.
FL would withhold state funds from local governments that cut law enforcement budgets
6/ “violent or disorderly assemblies” = gatherings of 7+ ppl that “substantially obstruct” govt functions, create “immediate danger of damage to property or injury to persons,” & deprive any person of “legal right or disturbs any person in the enjoyment of a legal right”
7/ The language prohibits anyone charged with crimes related to such assemblies from being released on bail or bond.
8/ Former homicide prosecutor:
"You could have people who are peacefully assembling who go in and out of a store & a store owner or even a passerby could get nervous & misinterpret something and think they have the right to use unnecessary physical force — or even deadly force"
"You could have people who are peacefully assembling who go in and out of a store & a store owner or even a passerby could get nervous & misinterpret something and think they have the right to use unnecessary physical force — or even deadly force"
9/ “It dangerously gives armed private citizens power to kill as they subjectively determine what constitutes ‘criminal mischief’ that interferes with a business... Someone graffitiing ‘Black Lives Matter’ on a wall? Urinating behind a dumpster? Blocking an entrance?”
