We don't retreat

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About half the states in this here U.S. of A. have what a lot of people are calling "stand your ground" doctrine. It's also referred to as castle doctrine, but that's a bit narrower. Call it self defense. All images in today's piece taken from this website.

Barrett. 50 BMG. Good for what ails 'em.

The difference is Stand Your Ground applies wherever you are, walking down the street for instance. Castle doctrine applies in your home and such places.

Both mean you have the right to use lethal force to defend yourself against attack. In other words, if you go after someone in a state with SYG, they can kill you.

Fact: People are killed regularly across the US when someone Stands Their Ground. These people are not prosecuted. They are hailed as heroes. They regularly save the life of someone else. Fact: you rarely hear about these heroes.

Some states do not have SYG laws. If you are attacked, you have to escape. Have to. If you fight back and kill your attacker, you can be charged with murder.

Reload. Repeat.

Ah. In those states, you can be attacked, maimed, disabled or killed yourself. But if you kill the person intent on doing you harm, you will be charged with a crime. Great Britain prosecutes people for this. I have a bud in Australia who served time for shooting a person who broke into his home. Didn't kill the thief, just wounded him.

SYG has become a hot topic now because of the shooting down in Florida. I offer no opinion on that. I say I do not have all the facts and neither do you.

Shootings have also taken place in other places. Again, they make news. Instances where a shooter starts his rampage and is dropped by law abiding citizens does not make this kind of news. Yet, this kind of shooting is FAR FAR more common.

It's like planes. Thousands of planes land safely every day. That's not news. A plane crash is news. You can, if you wish, blame the media for this. You can accuse of sensationalism. You forget the purpose of the media too.

Living in the South, as I do, Stand Your Ground has been a de facto policy for as long as there's been history of the South. Parts of the US where this has not been the case are making it so.

Other parts of the nation which don't value human life as much as we do, refuse to codify your right to protect yourself.

Why?

If someone attacks you, don't you have the right to defend yourself? If you see someone being attacked, shouldn't you be able to go to their aid?

Dial 911? Last time I did it, it took officers about 2 minutes to get to my house. I am not complaining. That's a quick response time. But, by the time they arrived, I'd swept the house and yard - twice - with a loaded shotgun. I was leaning on my car when they arrived.

Had I encountered someone, the officers would have been at my house quite a while filling out paperwork.

Fortunately, I live in a place where my right to take defensive action is guaranteed by law.

I hope I never have to shoot someone. That will be a hard reality for me to live with. But if the choice is them or me, I'm voting for me.