Heaven help us:
Attorney General Eric Holder took aim at Stand Your Ground laws Tuesday, saying the measures increase the chance for violence.
[. . .]
“By allowing and perhaps encouraging violent situations to escalate in public, such laws undermine public safety,” he said.
[. . .]
“Separate and apart from the case that has drawn the nation’s attention, it’s time to question laws that senselessly expand the concept of self-defense and sow dangerous conflict in our neighborhoods,” Holder said, to applause from the audience.
[. . .]
Holder urged states to stick with what he called “the common sense and age-old requirement that people who feel threatened have a duty to retreat, outside their home, if they can do so safely.”
Granted, there can be a fine line between sensibly defending yourself and "recklessly escalating the situation." But what your mindset is when such danger arises is important, and walking around with a "duty to retreat" attitude might just get you killed. It's likely you won't have the time, or the calm, reflective state of mind, to debate whether there is imminent danger or you have the ability to retreat "safely." You've got a split second there, pal. And now add Eric Holder to the list of cynical opportunists, since the Zimmerman trial was never about Stand Your Ground. Never waste a good crisis, etc. etc.
Say, just though of something. "Duty to retreat safely even in the face of obvious danger." Sort of what our foreign policy has become. No "senselessly expanded concept of self-defense" at play, that's for certain.
