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    Common Dreams. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
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    everytown for gun safety

    Silhouette of a person that is to shoot with a gun.

    'License to Kill': New Report Finds Higher Homicide Rates in 'Stand Your Ground' States

    "These laws change the nature of self-defense, turning everyday disputes into deadly confrontations," the report, compiled by Everytown for Gun Safety, says.

    Stephen Prager
    Jul 21, 2025

    A new report has found that "Stand Your Ground" laws have led to an increased rate of gun homicides in the United States.

    These laws allow anyone who believes they are facing the threat of death or bodily harm to use deadly force without the requirement to first retreat to safety. But according to a report released Monday by the gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety, they have become a "license to kill."

    Data compiled by the group shows that these laws have led to around 700 additional gun deaths each year, increasing the number of gun deaths nationally by 8% to 11%. That estimate came from a 2022 study published by the medical journal JAMA Network Open, which looked at data from 1999 to 2017.

    Following aggressive lobbying by the National Rifle Association and the firearms industry, the first Stand Your Ground laws were introduced in Florida in 2005. Since then, 29 states have adopted them.

    Over that time, those states have seen especially high increases in violence, with Alabama, Missouri, and Florida all having 30% or greater increases to their homicide rates.

    Everytown's report details one particularly harrowing story from Florida in which Stand Your Ground laws contributed to the shooting of two children:

    In October 2022, William Hale and Frank Allison drove alongside each other on US Highway 1 in Hialeah, Florida. A traffic dispute grew more dangerous as both men began driving erratically. When Hale threw a water bottle at the other car, Allison retaliated with a gun, firing a shot that hit Hale's 5-year-old daughter. In response, Hale fired all of the bullets in his handgun, striking Allison's 14-year-old daughter.

    Though both men were initially charged with attempted murder, prosecutors dropped the charges against the man who fired first. Under Florida's so-called "Stand Your Ground" legal defense law, the thrown water bottle justified responding with deadly force, leading to a child being shot. In the end, with two girls wounded in a road rage tragedy, the man who started the shootout was protected by a distortion of self-defense that allows people to shoot first and ask questions later.

    "These laws change the nature of self-defense, turning everyday disputes into deadly confrontations," the report says. "Far from empowering victims, Shoot First laws lower the threshold for justifiable homicide, encouraging the escalation of petty arguments and armed vigilantism."

    These laws attracted national scrutiny in 2012 following the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida by a neighborhood watchman, George Zimmerman, who was acquitted under the state's Stand Your Ground law.

    The 2020 shooting of another young Black man, Ahmaud Arbery, in Georgia, is likewise believed to have been exacerbated by Georgia's Stand Your Ground law, though the three men who killed him were ultimately found guilty.

    Stand Your Ground laws also contribute to heightened racial disparities for shooting victims, according to FBI data from 2019-23.

    Justifiable homicide rates increased by 55% in states with Stand Your Ground laws, the report found. In those same states, the shootings of Black victims by white shooters are four times as likely to be deemed justified than they would be if the roles were reversed, a higher rate than in states without these laws.

    In some Stand Your Ground states like Michigan, Indiana, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Kansas, the disparity was more than seven times greater for Black victims than white ones.

    And contrary to claims that loose gun restrictions protect women, the report found multiple studies concluding that domestic violence cases in which a woman claimed self-defense were less likely to be deemed justifiable, while women convicted were more likely to serve longer sentences.

    "In addition to increased risk of victimization in Shoot First states, convictions are unfairly skewed against people of color and women," the report concludes. "In the decades since the first Shoot First law was enacted, no research shows that these laws lead to better outcomes for anyone. Shoot First was created to solve a problem that does not exist—and Americans are paying the price."

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    guns
    Ghost guns manufactured by a Floral Park, New York man

    In 'Major Smackdown' of 5th Circuit, Supreme Court Upholds Biden-Era Ghost Gun Ban

    "Today, seven members of the Supreme Court followed the law and did not capitulate to special interests like the NRA, and our streets will be safer for it," said one Democratic senator.

    Brett Wilkins
    Mar 26, 2025

    In what one gun control group hailed as "a BIG win for public safety," the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Biden-era rule regulating ghost guns, which can be made using 3D printers, obtained without background checks, and smuggled into high-security locations.

    The high court ruled 7-2—with Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissenting—in Bondi v. Vanderstock that ghost guns, which are virtually untraceable, are firearms subject to regulation by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).

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    gun control
    'Thought It Was a Joke': Bullets Now For Sale in Vending Machines in 3 GOP-Led States

    'Thought It Was a Joke': Bullets Now For Sale in Vending Machines in 3 GOP-Led States

    "In a country awash in guns and ammo, where guns are the leading cause of deaths for kids, we don't need to further normalize the sale and promotion of these products," an expert said.

    Edward Carver
    Jul 10, 2024

    A Texas-based company has developed vending machines that sell bullets and installed them at a handful of grocery stores in Texas, Oklahoma, and Alabama, with plans for expansion into other states, according to news reports this week.

    The machines, produced by American Rounds, based in the Dallas area, use artificial intelligence to verify the age of buyers, who must be 21 to purchase the shotgun, rifle, and handgun bullets on offer.

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    guns

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