Ah, “stand your ground” laws—otherwise known as, “Hey, no witnesses! I can shoot this dude in the face and ink a lucrative media deal with Fox News in 30 days or less” laws. The Bible rather quaintly admonishes us not to kill, but apparently we missed the fine print in the 10 Commandments where it says it’s okay if you’re scared of meandering Black people openly brandishing Skittles.
Of course, stand your ground legislation has always felt like an incitement for society to get far more shoot-y, and now it looks like there’s evidence to support our hunches. According to a new study published in the journal JAMA Network Open, the proliferation of stand-your-ground laws in recent years has been associated with an “abrupt and sustained” increase in gun-related homicides.
Shocker!
Axios:
The study, which assessed "stand your ground" laws enacted in 41 states between 2000 and 2016, found they were associated with an 8 to 11% increase in monthly firearm homicide rates, or an additional 58 to 72 homicides each month.
- That monthly increase alone is greater than total rates of homicides in most Northern and Western European countries, the study said.
- State-level rises in homicide and firearm homicide rates topped 10% for several Southern states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Louisiana.
David Humphreys, an associate professor at the University of Oxford and a co-author of the study, told The Washington Post that arguments in favor of stand your ground statutes “center around these laws actually having some protective effect on public safety and deterring violence.” But, he noted, “There doesn’t seem to be any evidence to show that and, you know, we only seem to see the opposite effect.”
Now who could have predicted that? Other than anyone who’s ever been in line at a Taco Bell drive-thru on a Saturday after the bars close, when people (who might have guns) have a tendency to get extremely impatient for their Crunchwrap Supremes.
Of course, since these laws appear to have no deterrent effect on gun violence and may actually be leading to more firearms deaths—one of the few categories in which America still indisputably leads its peers—one has to wonder why exactly we’re still passing them.
Perhaps it’s so we can have more Republican-created mayhem to blame on Joe Biden? Or just to reassure white folks that their government will have their back when they have to make the split-second decision whether to stalk and murder a Black person who’s minding their own business.
After all, it certainly seems like the laws are less about defending one’s castle, and more about claiming one was defending it from … Black people.
Analyzing applications of stand-your-ground in 2013, the Tampa Bay Times reported that defendants were more likely to cite the law successfully when the person they killed was Black.
What? Racial disparities? In America?
Shocking, indeed.
It made comedian Sarah Silverman say, “THIS IS FUCKING BRILLIANT,” and prompted author Stephen King to shout “Pulitzer Prize!!!” (on Twitter, that is). What is it? The viral letter that launched four hilarious Trump-trolling books. Get them all, including the finale, Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, at this link. Or, if you prefer a test drive, you can download the epilogue to Goodbye, Asshat for the low, low price of FREE.