FUCK THE POLICE
911 EVERY DAY
These laws addressed a problem that did not exist. Juries and prosecutors were always already sympathetic to claims of self-defense. However, the media wildly exaggerated a handful of cases, and it became part of the common mythology that people all over the place were being sent to jail for self-defense killings. One big case, of course, is Bernhard Goetz, who shot four black men who approached him in the subway (four admittedly unsympathetic plaintiffs, since they later admitted that they were intending to rob him). However, Bernhard Goetz was found not guilty of the crime.
Again, juries are very sympathetic to these cases. Then, of course, you have the case where a kid was playing in the gymnasium of his school with his friends after school hours (technically trespassing), climbed up to the top of the gym to attempt to fix a light, and fell. His parents sued the school. Now, you may think that is stupid, but it is not completely and totally insane compared to many other cases out there. Somehow, in the popular mind this transformed into a fully grown criminal who was burglarizing a house which happened to be owned by an old lady, who fell, and then proceeded to sue the old lady (presumably winning the case). This, of course, is whole new level of stupidity. Also, nothing close to it has ever occurred. But you hear that all the time.
So, what do we get in response? A series of laws passed in state after state which attempted to address every possible hypothetical scenario of self-defense (apparently judged in front of the most dickish prosecutor, judge, and jury in history) that some person could possibly imagine up. And what you get is a law that erects such a huge burden of proof that few cases can be judged, as well as many psychos simply believing that the law allows them to shoot whoever they feel personally justified in shooting. Again, this is not a secret. The proponents of the law often boast that this great new law will allow them to kill people they simply don't like, and if no one's around to see it, well, wink wink nudge nudge, LOL. When society thinks like thugs, it produces more thugs.
Again, juries are very sympathetic to these cases. Then, of course, you have the case where a kid was playing in the gymnasium of his school with his friends after school hours (technically trespassing), climbed up to the top of the gym to attempt to fix a light, and fell. His parents sued the school. Now, you may think that is stupid, but it is not completely and totally insane compared to many other cases out there. Somehow, in the popular mind this transformed into a fully grown criminal who was burglarizing a house which happened to be owned by an old lady, who fell, and then proceeded to sue the old lady (presumably winning the case). This, of course, is whole new level of stupidity. Also, nothing close to it has ever occurred. But you hear that all the time.
So, what do we get in response? A series of laws passed in state after state which attempted to address every possible hypothetical scenario of self-defense (apparently judged in front of the most dickish prosecutor, judge, and jury in history) that some person could possibly imagine up. And what you get is a law that erects such a huge burden of proof that few cases can be judged, as well as many psychos simply believing that the law allows them to shoot whoever they feel personally justified in shooting. Again, this is not a secret. The proponents of the law often boast that this great new law will allow them to kill people they simply don't like, and if no one's around to see it, well, wink wink nudge nudge, LOL. When society thinks like thugs, it produces more thugs.