The Christian Science Monitor said that the two latest cases that challenge the "stand your ground" laws in the US indicate that the country is no longer warming up to allowing people to legally arm themselves as a form of defense.
On Tuesday, a jury reportedly convicted Minnesota native Byron Smith on premeditated murder charges for killing his two teenage cousins who had broken into his home. Montana native Markus Kaarma is currently facing homicide charges following claims that he had shot four times at a door on Sunday when a German exchange student had tripped an alarm. The student, soccer player Diren Dede, subsequently died due to the gunshot wounds. CS Monitor said the two individuals had claimed that their actions were a result of self-defense, as they had reasonable beliefs that their lives where in danger at the time of the incidents. Prosecutors of both cases reportedly have continued ahead with the charges, which prompted consideration of the possible limits to be included in state self-defense laws.
Professor emeritus and criminologist and gun policy expert Edward Leddy at St Leo University in Florida said, "If somebody breaks into your house in the middle of the night, the presumption is you have the right to assume that they are armed and intend to do you harm. (The question in the Minnesota and Montana cases is) 'How reasonable is that presumption?' The problem is there's no clear-cut answer to that. It depends on the situation and the reasonableness of the person's fear."
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, a minimum of 22 states in the US have "stand your ground" laws, but all US states are broad with regard to homeowners' rights to kill intruders as long as their fears of getting harmed were reasonable. The fatal shooting of teenager Treyvor Martin may have sparked lawmakers in seven states to weaken or repeal self-defense laws, but the latter has been unsuccessful so far.
Law professor Jonathan Turley at George Washington University expressed the need for lawmakers to install limitations to self-defense laws and said, "The terrible reality is that there's a certain percentage of the population who do not look at these laws as protection but rather as an opportunity."
