by Gerard Valentino and Chad Baus

On October 1, Florida's much-publicized "Stand Your Ground" law went into effect. The law removes a duty on the part of citizens to retreat in the face of an attack as long as they are in a place they have a legal right to be, including a public street or their place of business.

It also gives immunity from criminal or civil charges to a shooter as long as the person shot is not a police officer.

One of the law's chief proponents has sent a letter to the editor in response to the establishment media's predictable thrashing about...

Oct. 07, 2005
Miami Herald

The ''Castle Doctrine'' states that if a criminal breaks into your home or your occupied vehicle, you may presume he is there to do bodily harm and you may use any force, including deadly force, against him.

In addition, the new law that Florida passed removes the ''duty to retreat'' when you are outside your home and in a place you have a legal right to be.

Lawful Floridians only want to be able to defend themselves without fear of their attacker's rights taking precedence over their own.

Gun-control groups' predictions were similarly and unjustly dire 18 years ago when Florida adopted the nation's first ''right-to-carry'' law, allowing lawful residents the right to carry firearms for protection. The anti-gun lobby's scare tactics were wrong then, and they are wrong now.

Florida law is now on the side of law-abiding victims rather than criminals. And that is the way it is supposed to be.

MARION P. HAMMER
National Rifle Association past president
Fairfax, VA

We at Buckeye Firearms Association have watched the passage of Florida's new "Stand Your Ground" law with kean interest. For in the past twenty years, as Florida's pro-gun law goes, so goes the nation. There are already several other state legislatures which have begun debate on passage of similar laws to benefit their citizenry.

We have also watched with shameless claims being recycled by gun ban extremists about this law, including a large advertising purchase by the Brady bunch that tries to warn would-be Florida tourists not to get into fights with natives during their visit.

We thought we'd have our own fun with the vacationer advisory, and we hope you'll share it with your friends (note to our Brady bunch friends: this one didn't cost thousands of dollars):

To download our "Thinking of a Florida Vacation?" advisory in .pdf format, click here.