https://www.americancityandcounty.com/wp-content/themes/acc_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcast
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Events
    • How to Contribute
    • Municipal Cost Index – Archive
    • Equipment Watch Page
    • American City & County Awards
  • Magazine
    • Back
    • Digital Editions
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • Advertise
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Statement
    • Terms of Service
American City and County
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcasts
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Events
    • How to Contribute
    • American City & County Awards
    • Municipal Cost Index
    • Equipment Watch Page
  • Magazine
    • Back
    • Digital Editions
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • Subscribe to GovPro
    • Manage GovPro Subscription
    • Advertise
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Stament
    • Terms of Service
  • newsletter
  • Administration
  • Economy & Finance
  • Procurement
  • Public Safety
  • Public Works & Utilities
  • Smart Cities & Technology
acc.com

Public Safety


Article

Mayors/Vets groups find increased violence under Stand Your Ground

Mayors/Vets groups find increased violence under Stand Your Ground

Municipal and citizen groups are standing against stand your ground legislation – the self-defense statutes written into the legal code of 22 states.

  • Written by erin.greer
  • 18th September 2013

Municipal and citizen groups are standing against stand your ground legislation – the self-defense statutes written into the legal code of 22 states.

The Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition, in association with the National Urban League and VoteVets, have released a study that shows stand your ground, while drafted to protect citizens, actually increased violence, especially in minority neighborhoods.  

The report, a comprehensive review of stand your ground laws in the 22 states with the legislation found “the statutes have dramatically expanded the circumstances under which people are permitted to use deadly force and have created legal hurdles that make it more difficult for law enforcement to hold shooters accountable.”

Overall, stand your ground states experienced a 53 percent increase in justifiable homicides in the years following stand your ground implementation, as compared to a 5 percent decrease in states without, the report found. 

The stand your ground states with the highest increases in justifiable homicides include: Florida, Texas, Georgia, Arizona and Kentucky. The average annual number of justifyable homicides grew 200 percent in Florida, 54 percent in Texas, 83 percent in Georgia, 24 percent in Arizona and 725 percent in Kentucky.

The states without the statutes, which saw the the highest decreases in justifiable homicides include: North Carolina, Illinois, Washington, Maryland and New Jersey.

Researchers also found a discrepancy in stand your ground rulings across racial lines. Data shows that when a white shooter killed a black person, the homicide was ruled "justifiable" in 34 percent of cases. When a black shooter killed a white person, however, the shooting was ruled "justifyable" 3.3 percent of the time.

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said in a statement "We hope the results [of this report] will encourage [lawmakers] to review these laws to determine whether they’re helping their communities, or making the public less safe.”

A Senate subcommittee will soon investigate the law enforcement and public safety implications of “stand your ground” laws. The meeting, slated to take place Tuesday, was postponed due to the deadly shootings that took place in the Washington D.C. Navy Yard Monday morning, according to The Washington Post. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill) said in a statement the hearing will be “postponed to a later date.”

Leave your opinions on stand your ground legislation in the comments section, or for more information, download the full report here:

 https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/images/ShootFirst_v4.pdf

 

 

Tags: Administration Public Safety Article

Related


  • Looking ahead: What 2021 will bring to public safety
    Most agree that 2020 was a year no one could have predicted. However, the shaping forces that took hold during the year—the pandemic, civil unrest and an increase in natural disasters, to name a few —will continue to influence the world in 2021 and beyond. Among the industries most likely to feel the lasting effects […]
  • How Philadelphia is aiming for zero waste
    The city of Philadelphia has long collected data on city properties’ waste generation and leveraged it to improve waste management, but now it’s honing in on the commercial sector too, realizing this will be crucial to hitting Philly’s zero waste targets. Today it runs a voluntary program where both municipal and commercial operations do detailed […]
  • Shared governance: How pandemic partnerships can lead to progress and offer promise
    If our nation’s cities and towns are going to be asked to do more and more, the pandemic partnerships and the progress we have made offer promise for a brighter future for our communities.
  • Will digital transformation of city procurement hold up beyond the pandemic?
    Now is the time for procurement to re-evaluate the free or co-opted tools that enabled service delivery when the pandemic first began and invest in the digital tools that will help streamline RFP evaluation, foster stakeholder collaboration, and maintain compliance during the pandemic and beyond

8 comments

  1. Avatar Anonymous 18th September 2013 @ 7:53 pm
    Reply

    This is exactly the idea of
    This is exactly the idea of the SYG laws: good guys able to use deadly force to defend themselves. It is the desired outcome. What, did they think the law would have crime deterrent value only and never be invoked?

    • Avatar Anonymous 18th September 2013 @ 10:23 pm
      Reply

      The problem with your theory
      The problem with your theory is that many people that we perceive as “good guys” are not “so good or even stable” and too many that we stereotype as suspicious or bad are really good guys. Human perception is extremely faulty, which is why eye witnesses do not carry the weight they once did in a court of law. Our eyes deceive us. And our biases delude us into behaving in ways that can be extremely detrimental and even deadly.

      • Avatar Elldogg 19th September 2013 @ 3:25 pm
        Reply

        I don’t see the negative
        I don’t see the negative statistics showing if there were more or less homicides overall! What a huge waste of money that comes up with a conclusion that I could have come up with for free! What they probably did was throw out the stats showing that there were less homicides overall (thus telling us these laws actually work).

        • Avatar erin.greer 19th September 2013 @ 3:57 pm
          Reply

          In-depth statistical analysis
          In-depth statistical analysis and exact data sets can be found by clicking the link at the end of the story, which takes the reader to the published report.

  2. Avatar Anonymous 18th September 2013 @ 7:58 pm
    Reply

    Must we continue to be
    Must we continue to be bombarded with one sided press releases from every left wing group in the country at least try a balanced approach once in a while

    • Avatar Anonymous 18th September 2013 @ 10:30 pm
      Reply

      Most press that I read tends
      Most press that I read tends to be more right wing, or in the business of conserving institutional rights over the peoples’ rights. The problem is that so many of us feel voiceless and powerless in this age of money fueled politics that we lash out at the wrong sources. Step back and take a look at the corporations funded by the investors that owns media outlets for profit rather than the public good. The press is no longer in the information business it is in the titlation/entertainment business. Therefore the press is rarely a reliable information source.

      • Avatar Elldogg 19th September 2013 @ 4:36 pm
        Reply

        I don’t know what press you
        I don’t know what press you read/watch, but the newspapers and local television in our area (fresno) are bonafide Union Representatives, progressive gay rights spokespeople, and give a platform for illegal aliens and other liberal groups–EVERY SINGLE NEWSPAPER AND TV OUTLET!

  3. Avatar Missouri resident 18th September 2013 @ 11:13 pm
    Reply

    Each of those justifiable
    Each of those justifiable homicides, without legal gun ownership and Stand Your Ground laws, would probably have been an unsolved murder case. How can anyone think that is a better outcome?!!

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your American City and County account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • In challenging year, working with public safety to move FirstNet forward
  • Lessons from the pandemic: Emergency sourcing of lifesaving equipment
  • Biden cabinet picks poised to bring municipal experience to national level
  • Florida county announces successful test of Motorola Solutions’ cloud-based P25 core technology

White papers


How a unified HR system helps one public safety organization manage crews, payroll, and more in a single platform

7th January 2021

Your Roadmap to COVID-19 Funding

18th December 2020

The One Where Everyone Wins: A Mutually Beneficial Contracting Method

10th December 2020
view all

Events


PODCAST


Young Leaders Episode 4 – Cyril Jefferson – City Councilman, High Point, North Carolina

13th October 2020

Young Leaders Episode 3 – Shannon Hardin – City Council President, Columbus, Ohio

27th July 2020

Young Leaders Episode 2 – Christian Williams – Development Services Planner, Goodyear, Ariz.

1st July 2020
view all

Twitter


AmerCityCounty

The latest episode The Young Leaders Podcast focuses on Cyril Jefferson. Cyril is the youngest African American to… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

27th October 2020
AmerCityCounty

Hillsboro, Oregon is pioneering a new #renewableenergy generation technology through a partnership with… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

27th October 2020
AmerCityCounty

The impact of the #COVID19 pandemic on #telework was swift and profound. Now, the big question is whether – and to… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

26th October 2020
AmerCityCounty

Get ready for the can't-miss webinar on how to kickstart your efficiency improvement plan with Luke Anderson of… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

26th October 2020
AmerCityCounty

Among all states headed into the 2020 general election, which ones have voting populations that are the most demogr… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

26th October 2020
AmerCityCounty

We want to hear from you! Share your thoughts in our readership survey to help us shape future content so that we c… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

23rd October 2020
AmerCityCounty

See how cities different approaches to distribute masks in their communities >> spr.ly/6010GAPLa

23rd October 2020
AmerCityCounty

While #facialrecognition is a powerful tool that can improve law enforcement efficiency, that doesn’t necessarily t… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

23rd October 2020

Newsletters

Sign up for American City & County’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about local governments.

Resale Insights Dashboard

The Resale Insights Dashboard provides model-level data for the entire used equipment market to help you save time and money.

Municipal Cost Index

Updated monthly since 1978, our exclusive Municipal Cost Index shows the effects of inflation on the cost of providing municipal services

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital audience? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • IWCE’s Urgent Communications
  • IWCE Expo

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us

FOLLOW American City and County ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2021 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X