For the past decade, “Stand Your Ground” laws have been invoked time and time again by gun owners who claim self-defense after carrying out shootings. Critics have denounced them as “shoot first” laws that have created a climate of vigilantism in which gun owners operate with impunity in killing largely Black people.
The concept resurfaced again last week following the killing of Senior Airman Roger Fortson in Florida, but the dynamics were different.
This time, the victim was a young Black servicemember who carried his legally owned handgun to the door of his apartment after hearing banging noises that ended up being a sheriff’s deputy. The officer — and not Fortson — opened fire within seconds. His supervisors say he acted in self-defense.
Fortson’s legal team was quick to remind the world of his Second Amendment rights in a state that helped popularize “Stand Your Ground” laws after the killing of Trayvon Martin more than a decade ago.
“They teach us in law school about the sanctity of the home, in the United States of America, and how that is your safe haven. That is your castle,” civil rights attorney Ben Crump said at a press conference with Fortson’s relatives last week.
“Every one of us, if someone we don’t know comes into our house, are going to defend ourselves,” Brian Barr, Crump’s co-counsel, added. “We have things like Stand Your Ground, the castle doctrine and very strong believers in the Second Amendment in the state of Florida. … He has the right to protect his home.”
Fortson’s killing sparked a complicated debate about race, gun laws and self-defense — namely, who is typically afforded deference when it comes to the use of guns in self-defense and who is not.
Lauren Krasnoff, president of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ Miami chapter, said Fortson’s race cannot be disentangled from discussion of the case when invoking the castle doctrine and Stand Your Ground.
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