FLORIDA FIREARMS – Law, Use & Ownership

Florida Stand Your Ground came into being in 2005, and worked perfectly until 2015 when certain Florida gun organizations made a horrible mistake in deciding the statutes needed a change as one Circuit Court judge incorrectly held that the self defense statutes did not cover “threats” to use lawful self defense.  Of course, this incredibly incorrect decision by one anti-gun lower court judge had no basis in law, was contrary to the case law from the appellate courts, and if it had been appealed would have stood zero chance of being upheld — yet — the “powers that be” decided that the only way to handle this ridiculous decision was to change the law by writing “threats” into the self defense laws!  Incredible!

Anyway, up to this point Florida self defense law was basically that as long as you acted reasonably – any “threat” of using self defense, including the threat of using “deadly force”, was not the “use” of deadly force, but only the threat of using it, and thus lawful — as long as the threat was reasonable, and did not involve the discharge of a firearm or weapon.  Discharge was normally considered the “use” of deadly force.  Thus, having a gun in hand while responding to a noise outside at night was normally reasonable – and therefore lawful.  Same thing about having a firearm in the low, ready position in a situation that might be a felony. In fact, in just about any felony situation – a warning like “I have a firearm, and will use it if necessary” – was normally legal.  Likewise, it could also be argued that it wasn’t a “threat” – but was just a “warning”.  However, the 2015 amendments to Florida Statute 776.012 blew that right out the window — because the amendment proposed only allowed a “threat” of using “deadly force” — lawful — when necessary to stop or prevent imminent death or great bodily harm,  or to prevent or stop the imminent commission of a “forcible felony”!   Thus, the previous defense that your actions were “reasonable” no longer applied — if using or threatening with a firearm or other deadly weapon — unless those specific “imminent” situations also existed!

Well — we need to change this law back!  Please understand, that this law was an intrusion and diminishment to your rights of self defense.  In other words — it acts in a manner that impinges on, and reduces the protections of the Second Amendment.  Therefore, we need to get Florida back to the more basic that whatever is “reasonable” is legal, as long as the discharge of a firearm or other weapon is not involved.   And, I have drafted a very easy fix for that which appears in the proposed change below:  My changes are in bold and underlined.  The words I believe must be struck from the current statute are struck through.  New words are in bold, and underlined:

A bill to be entitled
An act related to lawful self defense ; amending s. 776.012(1) and (2), such that a threat of using deadly force is not unlawful when a person reasonably believes such is necessary to defend himself or another from the imminent use of unlawful force, or to stop or prevent the imminent commission of a crime, and defining criminal activity as an act that constitutes a crime pursuant to Florida statutory law.

Section 1. Section 776.012(1) is amended to read:

Use or threatened use of force in defense of person.—

(1) A person is justified in using or threatening to use force, except using deadly force, against another when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or herself or another against the other’s imminent use of unlawful force, or to stop or prevent the imminent commission of a crime. A person who uses or threatens to use force in accordance with this subsection does not have a duty to retreat before using or threatening to use such force.

Section 2. Section 776.012(2) is amended to read:

(2) A person is justified in using or threatening to use deadly force if he or she reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony. A person who uses or threatens to use deadly force in accordance with this subsection does not have a duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground if the person using or threatening to use the deadly force is not engaged in activity that constitutes a crime pursuant to Florida statutory law a criminal activity and is in a place where he or she has a right to be.

Section 3. This act shall take effect on _________________.

A Further Explanation of My Reasoning for this revision:
The 2015 amendments to Chapter 776 were meant to show that “threats” were also included as lawful self defense conduct where reasonable. Instead, the drafting of the amendment created a hybrid situation where any threat, reasonable or not, was not lawful if it involved the threat to use use deadly force, unless the threat was also directed to a situation involving imminent death or great bodily harm, or to stop or prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony. Thus, saying something like “I have a gun, and will use it if needed” – could constitute an unlawful threat, and crime unless the requisite “deadly force” or “forcible felony” situation also existed.

There was also a slight change made to subsection 776.012(2) such that only “criminal activity” that constitutes a crime under Florida statutory law also constitutes “criminal activity” for purposes of the self defense statutes. This is because many federal laws are contrary to Florida law, and could inadvertently destroy certain Stand Your Ground defenses. For instance, federal laws requiring a Concealed Weapons License for possession of a firearm within 1000 foot of a “school zone”. Or, having a firearm legally possessed in a vehicle while on a post office parking lot. Or, having a valid Florida medical marijuana exemption. All of these would be considered “criminal conduct” under current Florida law, and destroy a Stand Your Ground defense, although being perfectly legal under Florida law.