Thread by @shannonrwatts

BREAKING: The Florida gunman who fatally shot a man over a parking spot dispute has been the accused aggressor in four road rage incidents. One involved the same Clearwater parking spot, one involved a shooting threat, and during two he showed a gun. tampabay.com/news/publicsaf…

In this case, the shooter was white and the victim was Black. Stand Your Ground disproportionately impacts communities of color in Florida. Florida Stand Your Ground cases are half as likely to lead to a conviction when the victim is a minority.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26313247

And when white shooters kill black victims, the shootings are deemed justifiable 11 times more frequently than when the shooter is Black and the victim is white.

urban.org/sites/default/…

In 2017, the Florida legislature and Gov. Rick Scott expanded Stand Your Ground to force the state to prove to a judge that a shooter acted unlawfully before the state can even bring a case to trial.

nytimes.com/2017/03/23/opi…

The @NRA was instrumental in passing and expanding Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, the first in the country. Even before it was expanded in 2017, the law gave untrained civilians more leeway to shoot than the U.S. military gives soldiers in war zones. newyorker.com/magazine/2018/…

Stand Your Ground laws are unnecessary and ineffective. Self-defense laws already give people the right to defend themselves while recognizing that it’s best to avoid killing someone if possible. And evidence shows Stand Your Ground laws don’t deter crime. nber.org/papers/w18134.…

After the Clearwater shooting, Florida Sen @darrylrouson called for a special session on Stand Your Ground, but opposition by Republicans, who outnumber Democrats in the legislature, has made it impossible for Democrats to force a session. #flapol

tampabay.com/florida-politi…