Can Women Stand Their Ground? Depends on the Target.
Defenders of Stand Your Ground laws and other efforts to expand gun rights have for years invoked female victims to justify them. The scenario of a woman shooting a rapist as a rationale for broader gun rights is a recurring one, particularly since the killings of Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis in Florida have cast Stand Your Ground laws in particular in a harsh light.
“Calls to repeal ‘Stand Your Ground’ are anti-woman. Imposing a duty-to-flee places the safety of the rapist above a woman’s own life,” wrote a pair of Florida lawmakers in 2012. Or as NRA President Wayne LaPierre has explained it, “The one thing a violent rapist deserves to face is a good woman with a gun.”
But as Marissa Alexander faces a possible 60-year sentence in Florida for what she called a warning shot fired against her abusive husband - and on Friday filed a request for a new Stand Your Ground immunity hearing - it’s clear the definition of “a good woman with a gun” doesn’t necessarily apply to everyone. And according to a new analysis of FBI homicide data, race plays a disproportionate role.
The analysis was prepared by the Urban Institute at msnbc’s request. It used national data on homicide cases that were found “justifiable” - generally, those in which no charges were brought, on the grounds that deadly force was appropriate.