Andrew Branca

Although it’s often reported that only a minority of somewhat odd (usually “racist”) states can be described as stand-your-ground jurisdictions, in fact the large majority of states do not impose a legal duty to retreat on persons otherwise acting in lawful self-defense.

Several of these have transitioned from duty-to-retreat to stand-your-ground since the hubbub over stand-your-ground that inappropriately arose over the legal doctrine during the trial of George Zimmerman. No state in recent years has moved from stand-your-ground to duty-to-retreat.

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It looks like Ohio’s adoption of modern self-defense law is a done deal, according to Fox News and other sources. They report that the Ohio legislature today overrode Governor Kasich’s veto of the pro-civil-rights bill that sought to adopt the modern practice of placing the burden of proof on self-defense on the prosecution, beyond a reasonable doubt.

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The insurance industry publication Business Insurance reports that Lloyd’s of London affiliates have settled with New York state insurance regulators over its partnering on NRA Carry Guard self-defense insurance.

In addition to paying $5 million, the insurers agreed to not issue insurance policies to cover liability from self-defense shootings. They also agreed to “not enter into any agreement or program with the NRA to underwrite or participate in any affinity-type insurance program involving any line of insurance covering persons or entities whose home state is New York.” In addition, they agreed to cancel existing policies.

Note that last sentence:

In addition, they agreed to cancel existing policies.

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Today’s post involves a decision out of the Florida Supreme Court holding that police officers acting in the course of their duties are as entitled to seek self-defense immunity under Florida law as are non-LEOs, as reported by the Seattle Times newspaper. 

That’s decision is not what’s interesting about this story, however.What’s interesting about this story is the extent to which the news coverage and the people quoted engage in stupid think.

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