David Frum: Trayvon Martin, and the backlash against the backlash

Like nothing else since 2009, the Trayvon Martin case has jolted black America. Tens of thousands of people have signed digital petitions demanding a federal investigation. Demonstrations have begun to take place in Florida and elsewhere. A community that has had much reason since 2009 to ask, “Why bother with politics?” suddenly has found an answer.

Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman, could plead self-defence because of Florida’s peculiar gun laws. Under the old law inherited by the English-speaking world, an armed man has a “duty to retreat.” Not in Florida. In 2005, Florida adopted what’s called a “stand your ground” law. These laws — increasingly common in southern states — permit an armed man to shoot in self-defence even if he could have avoided the fight without shooting.

“Stand your ground” laws become especially lethal when combined with other new laws that grant people in the majority of U.S. states the right to carry weapons in public, and even concealed weapons.

U.S. gun laws have become more permissive even as U.S. crime rates have sharply declined. Why?