15 States Decide to “Shoot First”
Florida led the way, but now fourteen other states have passed their own self-defense, “shoot first” laws that permit the use of deadly force if one feels threatened---or sort of threatened. Under most of the new statutes, using Florida’s as a model, this is stretched to mean that homeowners can preemptively shoot intruders who pose no threat to the householder’s safety.
“In effect,” said Anthony J. Sebok, a professor at Brooklyn Law School, “the law allows citizens to kill other citizens in defense of property.”
As it happens, such a shooting has recently occurred between neighbors quarreling over….. garbage placement.
The NRA says it will lobby for like laws in 8 more states in 2007. ADAM LIPTAK for the New York Times