One would have to be dillusional to think that the media would take it on their own initiative to present the gun related laws as written along with unbiased examples. However, there are plenty of 2A affiliated groups across the country that could distribute this information accurately in each state using the local media. Providing examples of how the laws are applied would further clear up any misunderstandings. Keeping the information factual would help people recognize biased reporting regardless of the position taken and hold the medias feet to the fire on accuracy.
This is only meant to be a possible solution for the people that won’t visit a dot gov site to educate themselves. Most of the people are reasonably informed and follow the rules. It’s the ones that are content to remain ignorant that get most of the bad press. They are the ones that need to be spoon fed information in spite of themselves. Having written all this, I do realize it is only wishful thinking.
Thanks for sharing. I don’t know of any state where this would pass muster under stand your ground if what has been said is true.
I will say when I got my CCW, some of the people in class were scary. We have all seen them…I will shoot if you look crossed eyed at my car type of person. The instructor, a former Marine, did his best to show them the light so to speak. It did setup the whole castle doctrine and stand your ground discussion though.
I do not think I want any media outlet publishing articles on the laws of self defense @William226! It’s not that they could not do a good job, but I do not think they will do a good job.
Castle doctrine and stand your ground laws cannot just be generalized accurately. Some include immunity, some do not; some require retreat if it is an option but most do not. I can say that most states laws, although similar, are not the same. And, even if worded identically, courts can interpret them differently.
Also, there is a general legal presumption that you know the law, even though most do not. This is because all laws are published as they are introduced to a legislature and as amendments are made along with a final version. Today, we can usually find these on the internet for state and federal governments. Since the information is made available to the public, the public is presumed to know what the law is.
My personal feeling is that these should be taught in self defense classes, CCL classes and other training in the use of weapons or martial arts.
@MikeBKY you are preaching to the choir, I totally agree with you. Unfortunately there are a lot of people with guns that don’t avail themselves of any training or bother going to the state dot gov site for information. Their information will be word-of-mouth at best over the water cooler at work or a beer at the local bar. These are the morons that go out in their driveway and kill an apparent non-threat thinking they had a legal right to do so. This gives the media plenty of fuel to throw on the anti 2A, stand your ground, castle doctrine and in this case the Islamophobe fires. The current political herd will also make the most of this senseless act.
When I was proposing the use of the media as a means of getting some accurate information to the general public by a 2A group, like local state NRA or similar organizations it would be better than none at all. They could include in large block letters the state dot gov site to visit for all of the details. This shouldn’t be used in place of the dot gov site, but rather to nudge people in that direction. Anything to get more accurate information to the word-of-mouth crowd should be a plus.
I get it! Whenever anyone says media, I cringe because most people are thinking CNN, MSNBC and all the other major networks. They all assume Stand your ground and castle doctrine are a license to kill. They also consider burglary and robbery as property crimes, not the crimes of violence that they really are.
@MikeBKY , I would say that they are educated to the ignorance of their demographic, which is how they can shovel chicken s**t and sell it as chicken salad.