“Stand Your Ground” (SYG) laws let people get away with murder! They let white supremacists get away with the slaughter of black people! They’re racist, they’re worse than WWII and the Holocaust and slavery…ooops. Sorry. That was Sunny Hostin on the The View. We return you to a sane publication.
It was the Trayvon Martin case that turbocharged attempts to strike down SYG laws. George Zimmerman, a “white Hispanic”—a term the media invented for the occasion–brutally profiled, stalked and murdered a cherubic Trayvon Martin, just because he was black, wearing a hoodie and carrying Skittles, and Florida’s SYG law let him get away with it. The truth is Martin, whose social media presence was very much that of a thug wannabe, ambushed Zimmerman, broke his nose, knocking him to the ground. He straddled him, raining blows on him in MMA “ground and pound” style and repeatedly smashed his head into a concrete sidewalk. So clear were the facts, despite a corrupt prosecutor and judge, Zimmerman was acquitted.
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Graphic: X Screenshot
It was a ridiculously clear case of self-defense, a politicized prosecution, and neither the prosecution nor the defense mentioned SYG. It just didn’t apply. But other than that, the case was all about SYG.
SYG laws do not for a moment invalidate the normal legal criteria for the use of deadly force. All they do is establish that if you’re attacked where you’re legally allowed to be, you don’t have to avoid hurting your attacker by running away. You can remain where you are and use whatever force is reasonable and lawfully necessary to end the attack. That’s it. SYG laws are race and gender colorblind.
Yet, race hustlers and the media—I know: one in the same—continue to gaslight the public, as in the case of 79-year-old Edward Druzolowski who was recently cleared of homicide charges in Florida.
It seems Druzolowski, who is frail and suffers from osteoporosis, saw his 42-year-old neighbor trimming tree branches, but on Druzoloski’s property. Because Druzolowski knew the neighbor had a criminal record and a reputation for violence, he armed himself with a handgun and asked the neighbor to leave his property.
The neighbor responded as any rational person would: he threatened Druzolowski with a chainsaw, which was confirmed by the neighbor’s eight-year-old son who was with him. Druzolowski warned the neighbor, who was much bigger and stronger than Druzolowski and wieldling a running chain saw, to stop but he aggressively advanced and Druzolowski fired, mortally wounding him and ending the threat.
Did Druzolowski have the right to ask a trespasser to leave his property? Of course. Might it have been better if he just ignored his violent, criminal neighbor. Perhaps, but that had no bearing on the issues in the case. Druzolowski was on his own property. He had every right to ask the neighbor to leave, which he obviously did politely. Druzolowski even tried to convince him to stop, which he was not required to do. Because of Florida’s SYG law, he had no obligation to retreat, which he surely could not have done anyway, so when a chainsaw wielding thug aggressively advanced on him, he acted fully within the law and exercised his right to self-defense.
As one might expect, not everyone agreed, including CNN:
The ruling has renewed debate over the use of Florida’s divisive law, with proponents arguing it protects individuals in self-defense situations, and critics contending it can lead to unjust outcomes in cases involving questionable circumstances.
Not now, not with George Zimmerman. Neither set of circumstances were “questionable.” Zimmerman and Druzolowski were legally present and acting within the law when they were accosted by violent attackers who any reasonable person would have believed presented an imminent threat of serious bodily injury or death. Race and gender would have made no difference. In both cases, neither Zimmerman nor Druzolowski were able to run away, and in both cases, the minimum force necessary to end the attacks was employed.
Those who argue against SYG laws are badly misinformed, malicious, have political agendas or all three. Some may honestly believe violence never solves anything. Travyon Martin didn’t believe that, nor did Druzolowski’s chainsaw wielding neighbor. Nor do thousands upon thousands of violent attackers around the nation every year. Criminals prefer to pick on the weak or distracted, the frail and female. That’s why SYG laws are vital and necessary. That’s also why self-defense is an unalienable, natural right and why the Second Amendment affirms it.
Just ask Edward Druzolowski.
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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.
This article was originally published at www.americanthinker.com
