SYG poll shows some support...

[ileus]

Last edited Sat Aug 3, 2013, 08:46 AM - Edit history (1)

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/02/19831793-majority-of-americans-support-stand-your-ground-laws-poll?lite

Voters in households with a gun tilted strongly in favor of “Stand Your Ground,” with 67 percent backing the laws that have been enacted in some two dozen states.

The poll surveyed 1,468 voters

[gejohnston]

1. there are actually 31 SYG states

when you count the ones that are SYG by common law like California, Washington, and Illinois. Civil immunity varies with common law states. Of course, many of the duty to retreat states (outside the home, since it has a castle doctrine) are also by common law, as is the case with Wyoming. AFAIK, it is also the only duty to retreat state that has civil immunity.


http://www.volokh.com/2013/07/17/duty-to-retreat/

[HockeyMom]

2. They didn't differentiate

between the gun owners and non-gun owners in those households. Do they assume that all adults in that household own or use those guns? Not so, and that would change the results right there. What about unrelated roommates in that gun household? They will all support SYG? They might not even know that one of their roomies owns a gun.

Show me statistics on that one. I doubt you will get 67% support.

[gejohnston]

3. depends on the question.

but I can picture that much support for SYG, if it is explained correctly and accurately. This is actually the best description:

In duty-to-retreat states, the defendant is not legally allowed to use deadly force to defend himself if the jury concludes that he could have safely avoided the risk of death or serious bodily injury (or the other relevant crimes) by retreating.

In stand-your-ground states, the defendant is legally allowed to use deadly force to defend himself without regard to whether the jury concludes that he could have safely avoided the risk of death or serious bodily injury (or the other relevant crimes) by retreating.

http://www.volokh.com/2013/07/17/duty-to-retreat/

[HockeyMom]

4. Deadly force with what?

Guns, of course. That is why the NRA promoted this. How many people are walking around carrying baseball bats or iron pipes when they SYG? The object is to KILL your attacker, not hurt or stop them to get away. So if you aren't walking around carrying a gun, that isn't going to happen, is it? It all about guns and nothing else. Selling more guns.

[tumtum]

5. The object is not to kill your attacker,

at least that's not what my CCW instructor taught us, the goal is to stop the threat, not kill, if the attacker dies in the process, that's not my fault, that's their's.
If I can retreat safely, I will, but if cornered, then I'll do what I have to do to survive.

[NYC_SKP]

8. "The threat" could be interpreted to include future attacks.

I've felt that sort of threat only once in my life and it was a feeling I'd never had before.

I think our society presents situations where a victim could legitimately feel in a state of continued and perpetual threat from an individual, such as a spouse or evil neighbor.

Not that this point impacts directly any specific legistlation.

[gejohnston]

6. The object is to stop the attack

If the attacker dies in the process.
I do know of one case in Tampa where a knife was used in self defense. Here is a question, what if you defend yourself with a less than lethal weapon (there are no nonlethal weapons) that causes death? If you think a Taser can't kill, google "RCMP Taser Vancouver Airport". Pepper spray against someone that is on cocaine or some other stimulant, causing death? A single punch? http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/05/us/utah-soccer-death

Now, what if it is in a duty to retreat state?

[spin]

7. Even if I shoot an attacker self defense there is an excellent chance he will survive. ...

Of course I have no desire to kill another person but if I have absolutely no other choice I am willing to use a handgun to stop an attack by an individual who intends to put me in a hospital for a long period of time or six feet under and has the ability to do so. If I do shoot an attacker I will do my best to make sure he gets prompt medical attention.

One Bullet Can Kill, but Sometimes 20 Don’t, Survivors Show

By JOHN ELIGON
Published: April 3, 2008

A man in North Carolina was shot roughly 20 times in 1995 and lived to tell about it. The rapper 50 Cent was shot nine times in 2000 and has since released three albums. And in 2006, Joseph Guzman survived 19 gunshot wounds during the 50-shot fusillade by police detectives that killed Sean Bell.

While surviving numerous gunshots could be a miraculous feat, doctors who have treated gunshot victims say that being shot is not automatically a death sentence.

When major organs — the heart and brain especially — and blood vessels are avoided, the chances of survival are good, they said. The catch, of course, is that there is no science to preventing a bullet from hitting a vital part of the body.

***snip***

If a gunshot victim’s heart is still beating upon arrival at a hospital, there is a 95 percent chance of survival, Dr. DiMaio said. (People shot in vital organs usually do not make it that far, he added.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/03/nyregion/03shot.html?_r=0