Florida gun law authors say charge the shooter

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George Zimmerman from a 2005 jail photo. &nbsp/&nbspAP photo

The co-authors of Florida's controversial self-defense gun law say it shouldn't protect shooters like George Zimmerman, who killed unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin last month.

"They got the goods on him. They need to prosecute whoever shot the kid," said former Republican Sen. Durell Peaden, a state lawmaker who sponsored the Stand Your Ground law in 2005, the Miami Herald reports. Of Zimmerman, he added, "He has no protection under my law."

In a case that has drawn national attention and a look from the Justice Department, Zimmerman has insisted to police that he shot Martin, a 17-year-old student with no criminal history, in self-defense on Feb. 26 as the two wrestled on a suburban street in Sanford, Fla.

The 2005 Florida law protects shooters who claim self-defense in a wide range of places, including on the street or in a bar. According to the law, a person who believes their life is danger or could be seriously injured in any place they have a right to be "has no duty to retreat" and "has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force."

But Zimmerman, a neighbor watch volunteer, forfeit the self-defense protections when he decided to pursue Martin before killing him, Peaden said.

"The guy lost his defense right then," said Peaden, according to the Herald. "When he said 'I'm following him,' he lost his defense."

Peaden and his co-author state Republican Rep. Dennis Baxley, say their law protects law-abiding people but nowhere does it say that a person has a right to confront another.

But Democratic lawmakers in the state have been using the Martin shooting in their calls for appealing the gun law.

Democratic state Sen. Oscar Braynon said the law is too vague and doesn't specify that people shouldn't pursue others.

"The Legislature needs to take a look at Stand Your Ground," Braynon said, according to the Herald. "When the Legislature passed this in 2005, I don't think they planned for people who would go out and become vigilantes or be like some weird Batman who would go out and kill little kids like Trayvon."

Source: http://www.mysouthwestga.com/news/story.aspx?id=733228

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