This reiterates what I posted last night regarding everyone, including the aggressor thinking they're in the right to shoot the other person in a conflict. Everyone said I was full of shit... now you can see some actual statistics behind my words.
Quote:
"One possibility for the increase in homicide is that perhaps [in cases where] there would have been a fistfight ... now, because of stand your ground laws, it's possible that those escalate into something much more violent and lethal," says Hoekstra.
It's important to remember that the data Hoekstra is analyzing depend on how police classify shootings. Police guidelines likely vary from state to state, and police in different places may be interpreting shootings differently in light of stand your ground laws.
Still, based on the available data, it appears that crafters of these laws sought to give good guys more latitude to defend themselves against bad guys. But what Hoekstra's data suggest is that in real-life conflicts, both sides think of the other guy as the bad guy. Both believe the law gives them the right to shoot.
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http://www.npr.org/2013/01/02/167984...se-in-homicide
Here's the audio:
http://pd.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/a...102_atc_04.mp3