Former Florida Senator: I Regret My Vote For Stand Your Ground More Than Any Other

[Tx4obama]

Former Florida Senator: I Regret My Vote For Stand Your Ground More Than Any Other

After reports emerged this week that every single Florida state senator voted to pass what has become known as Florida’s state Stand Your Ground bill in 2005, then-Senate Democratic leader Les Miller said he regretted that vote more than any other he took in the Senate, and didn’t understand the law at the time.

“I’m not at an attorney,” Miller told the Tampa Bay Times. “So we relied on the advice of our staff and the lawyers in the caucus.” That advice, he said, was that the law would allow people to defend their homes and their cars – not to become vigilantes on the streets.

Had he known it would be used in street confrontations, he would not have voted for the bill, he suggested. “People are dying because of the ‘stand your ground’ law,” Miller said. “It was a bad bill.”

News reports and judicial analysis from the time suggest there were warnings about the law’s effects even before the law’s passage. But Miller’s comments reflect disagreement and confusion about the bill during debate, with some insisting it only protected the home and vehicle.

-snip-

Full article here: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/07/31/2389171/florida-legislators-passed-stand-your-ground-amidst-confusion-about-scope-of-the-law/

A Good Read

[MotherPetrie]

1. The fucking HELL he didn't understand it.

[Heather MC]

12. So sick of these ass holes changing their minds after all hell breaks loose.

How many SAY they regret their Iraq Vote, Or Sanda O'Conner regretting her vote for Bush.
Now this guy

It would be nice if these people voted using common sense and Reason, and not just follow the crowd, Ugggh we are the ones who suffer. Why they sit poolside enjoying their taxpayer funded retirements not giving two shits.

[Cha]

2. We need more pols in Florida now who have Lee Miller's

conscientiousness..

mahalo Tx

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. hindsight still involves an asshole, no matter how you spin it.

a politician's job is to figure things out before passage of a bill, including imagining what harm may follow

[Cha]

7. Whatever.. Kick.

[GoldenMezzoDiva]

3. Armed Zimmerman Speeding in TX

And now Zimmer-stein's been unleashed, free to speed around the country. Armed of course. Stopped in Forney TX on Sunday (AP, Reuters, ABC, etc.) Told cop he was going "nowhere in particular" & that he had a gun in the glove comp. Cop let him go with a warning. The monster's out there thanks to SYG. Yikes!

[SnakeEyes]

16. He wasn't acquitted based on SYG

He isnt free to speed, that's illegal and why he was stopped. He's free to be armed because he was acquitted and is still an American citizen with a 2nd Amendment right.

You'll have to explain "Zimmer-stein". I'm not sure what that reference is

[bluescribbler]

17. Not exactly

SYG was included in the Judge's instructions to the jury. Of course they considered that in their deliberations. They had no choice.

[geckosfeet]

4. He voted fkr something he did not understand? Recall the effing dufus

[Doctor_J]

6. Maybe you should use your brain instead of jumping whenever the NRA yelps

our entire systemis corrupt to the point of being useless

[okwmember]

8. Bullshit!

I remember the arguments against it. And it was clear to anyone with a brain that it was unnecessary because we already had a castle doctrine for protecting your home and a self defense statute that covered you anywhere. There was no need at all for some idiotic cowboy, shoot 'em up without trying to avoid the danger law.

I'm glad he regrets it, but he's lying about not understanding it.

[B Stieg]

11. K&R!!

You testify, okw. This is the only way to hold these liars' feet to the fire.

Thanks for the truth.

[DeSwiss]

9. ....

[blueknight]

10. bull

fucking shit! just another gutless fucking politician who would sell their soul for a vote

[Skittles]

13. protecting gun humping cowards is not a good idea?

WHO COULD HAVE KNOWN?

he sounds as stupid as the jury

[bonniebgood]

14. Is this moran still in office? what he is saying is

i did something stupid because i can think for myself. vote me in office again.
Most people, when they do something stupid they reap the consequences whether
they regret it or not. All he had to do was consider the source of he law or know that
we already have a law on the book for that. lier asshole, run him out of town.

[stuarttman63]

15. Only when they're out of power, do they come to their senses.

Like someone who's no longer drunk, the former politician looks back on what he or she did with second thoughts and regret. Only when they are out of power, do they really look back and re-think what they have done. The trouble is that they are out of power and the damage is done. This so-called "Stand Your Ground" law is, in my opinion, the worst bit of legislation ever. It needs to be called "Shoot First" or "Permissive Murder". The core item in the law is that there is no duty to retreat or to try to prevent a confrontation from escalating. There is no duty to be a reasonable person anymore. Even if you try to walk away from a conflict with someone, your antagonist is entitled to shoot you under this law. Because of the murkiness of this law, it's purposeful obfuscation of the concept of self-defense, it is almost impossible to delineate the difference between murder and justifiable homicide; between manslaughter and legitimate self-defense. It is the law of the jungle.

The only way to understand how this egregious "law" could be put on the books is to understand the role of the NRA in drafting and passing it. The NRA is a gun maker's lobby. It's sole purpose is to create a political and social climate where more and more guns are sold. If it is legal to shoot anyone for any reason and, likewise, to be shot for any reason, then it behooves everyone to be armed. We can look to the examples of Afghanistan, Waziristan and Somalia to see how societies like that work.

[Politicalboi]

18. This is bullshit

They make enough money, but they don't do their job. They rely on what others tell them the bill is about. I guess that's how nitwits like Bachmann can get elected. They have others do their homework, and they don't even read it.