Stand-Your-Ground against non-threats!

One of the most controversial aspects of the stand-your-ground laws (I'm talking to you, Florida...) is the fact it can give one an excuse to kill a person and then claim self-defense. In this type of scenario, the deceased individual is left with no opportunity to tell their side of the story, and with no other witnesses, it becomes the word of the living killer against that of the deceased victim. This is why it appears the shooter is more prone to being punished if his or her targets survived the shots than if one of them was killed. Michael Dunn is the most recent example of this. He shot three African-American teenagers in their car at a gas station and wound up killing one of them. While he's been found guilty with attempted murder of the two kids whom survived, it couldn't be determined one way or the other whether or not he killed the one kid in an act of self-defense.

Not to make light of the Michael Dunn tragedy or others like it, but to depict just how ridiculous the law is, here are a few made-up scenarios which could hypothetically take place due to it:

Scenario #1

Michael Gunn: ::over the phone:: "Hey, buddy. I know it's getting kind of late and all, but I was wondering if you wanted to come over to watch the game. Alright - cool. I'll see you then."

::his friend rings the doorbell::

Gunn: ::opens the door:: "This is for staring at my ex-girlfriend's cleavage when she went to that party dressed as a topless waitress on Halloween last year!" ::shoots and kills him::

Story he tells the cops: "It was late. He came over and was coming right at me, and I didn't know what else to do, so I had to kill him. It was self-defense."


Scenario #2

Jehovah's Witness: ::rings doorbell:: "Well, hello there. If you have a moment, I'd like to talk to you today about Jehovah. Hi, I'm... ::reaches hand out to shake::"

George Gunnerman: ::shoots and kills him::

Story he tells the cops: "The guy just stuck his hand out. I thought he had a gun and was going to shoot me, so I had to defend myself. I mean, why else would he have stuck his hand out like that - you know?"


Scenario #3

Girl Scout: ::rings doorbell: "Hello, sir. I'm Little Annie. You ordered some cookies from me a while ago, so here they are."

Johnny Maniac: "Hey - what's in the box? Whatcha got?"

Girl Scout: "I just told you, sir. Remember ordering these? Here you are..."

Maniac: "I'm not opening that! Is that a bomb? Are you trying to kill me? Who are you? Who do you work for?"

Girl Scout: "Here are your cookies."

Maniac: "I'm not going to let you kill me! Never!!!" ::shoots and kills her::

Story he tells the cops: "How could I have known there were cookies in the box? Have you ever seen the movie Seven? I felt like Brad Pitt in that one scene at the end. I just wanted to know what was in the box. I felt threatened and acted accordingly. It's what Jesus would have done."