A new PSA has emerged taking a stance against the “Stand Your Ground” laws across the United States. The haunting minutes and a half video, created by the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV), actually reenacts the night Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman on February 26, 2012. You can view the video above.
The video includes the actual audio from the 911 call recorded during the shooting, adding to the realism.
The CSGV looks at the “Stand Your Ground” laws as a “shoot first” policy that doesn’t support the rights of the victims.
The traditional presumption in the law—from the advent of the Hebrew Bible through the creation of Roman law, English common law, and American law—has been that if you could spare human life, it was incumbent upon you to do so.
With “Stand Your Ground” (aka “Shoot First”) laws, the National Rifle Association (NRA) and its partners in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) have turned 3,000 years of jurisprudence on its head. Now you can provoke a fight, and if losing that fight, kill the person you attacked.
The NRA’s laws represent a dangerous and unprecedented escalation in the use of force in the public space, allowing individuals to kill when they merely fear “great bodily harm” (i.e., a fistfight, shoving match, etc.). The concept of responding with proportional force has been obliterated. Additionally, “Stand Your Ground” laws remove the duty to retreat from a conflict in public, allowing individuals to shoot and kill even when they could otherwise walk away safely from an altercation.
The group has an online petition on their website if you’re interested in supporting their cause.
People involved in the case, including the families of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman, were not previously aware of the video’s existence, according to the Daily Mail.
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