quite a few states have this "Stand Your Ground" law ... many people in the ststes that have the law don't know their state has the law
here is a Washington Post piece on this that is interesting and informative:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ ... story.html
one part of the story outlines the applicable part of the law in this particular case:
once the actual complete facts are all outlined, it will be able to be determined if the police dropped the ball and that part of the law did not apply, or the police did follow correct guidancePolice decided to release Zimmerman without charges because of the Stand Your Ground law. The relevant part of the statute says that “a person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked . . . has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm.”
Zimmerman claimed self-defense, was given the benefit of the doubt required by law and released.
at issue at the moment is whether Zimmerman was actually attacked by Martin, and there are several conflicting stories on various news sources concerning this
still, I have participated in more than 1 Neighborhood Watch ... we were trained by the local police departments ... and one of the main rules was to observe and report to police when necessary ... nowhere were we told to arm up ... the exact opposite was true, as we were told we could not carry weapons ... so why Zimmerman was packing in the first place is another question needing an answer
this entire case stinks and as long as there remains all these conflicting stories, there is going to continue to be issues