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Deadly force law is a green light to commit homicide

Re: Easy on guns, tough on slowpokes, April 6.

After reading the article regarding the Legislature's passage of SB 436 or "citizens' right to shoot others on the street if they feel threatened," I was compelled to voice my opinion.

Are they nuts?

I am a retired police officer with over 25 years of service. A police officer has no right to retreat as a citizen does and also has extensive training as to when to use deadly force. He must also be continually trained to know under what crimes deadly force is warranted.

I can understand and agree with the right of a citizen to protect himself in his home, but I feel the Legislature has just given the green light to any person with a short fuse and a gun to commit homicide.

In my opinion, the governor's comment of "It's a good, common-sense, anticrime issue" tells me one thing: He too will have the blood of those who will be killed on his hands along with the others who voted for this legislation.

A threat to public safety

Re: Easy on guns, tough on slowpokes, April 6.

To understand the political dynamics behind the eventual signing of the "castle doctrine" bill by the governor, one must keep several things in mind.

Our current self-defense law has been in existence for almost 30 years and was passed because so many Floridians were shooting each other. It requires retreat if you can do so safely and urges caution before you pull that trigger, which is only common sense. The National Rifle Association wants to hide the reason our current self-defense law was passed.

During this 30-year period, not a single piece of legislation was introduced to alter the law, and there was no yearly assault on the Legislature to make major changes in this law. It appears it was working well and did allow self-defense that most could live with.

This bill is a threat to public safety. It ignores the simple fact that if you embolden gun owners to act more aggressively, there will be many innocent victims.

When you encourage gun owners to use their newfound rights in their home, in their car and even the street by not retreating from a place where they have a right to be, and if they feel threatened they can simply repeat the NRA's magic words - "I feel threatened" - and pull the trigger knowing they will be indemnified by the wording of the new law and exempt from prosecution, even if they kill or injure an innocent party.

Since we have 6- or 7-million untrained gun owners in Florida, what would one expect to happen when they hear on the street and read in the paper that the man with the gun now has more rights than anyone else? They will not hear the particulars of this bill, only that "I don't have to retreat" and "I can pull that trigger if I feel threatened." No one, certainly not the NRA, will provide them with the details of what they can and cannot do.

The NRA bears the responsibility, since they have opened Pandora's Box, to inform and train Florida's gun owners on the detail of this new legislation that would reduce the number of innocent victims. No one expects them to do that.

Road rage act falls short

Re: Easy on guns, tough on slowpokes.

Kudos to the St. Petersburg Times for publishing the article on the Road Rage Reduction Act on the front page. I also applaud the Legislature for finally addressing this very frustrating issue.

I live in Pinellas County but work and drive often in Germany. Where the new law perhaps falls short is that in Germany it is also illegal to pass on the right-hand side, regardless of how slowly a left-lane road-hog is driving.

The last part of the equation is that in Germany the get-out-of-the-left-lane law is enforced rigorously. This is one of the reasons that on many sections of the Autobahn there is no speed limit. I'd like to see how many $60 tickets will be issued by our law enforcement in Florida in the next six months. I hope a ton of them. I'd also like to see some media follow-up and support.

Don't penalize safe drivers

I think SB 732 is the most stupid and ill-thought-out bill I have seen in many years. There are many reasons to drive in the left lane and stay in that lane, and you don't have to be a "road hog," a "left-lane lollygagger" or an "inconsiderate ninnie." If you are in heavy traffic with a speed limit of 55 mph and you are going to make a left turn down the road, it is much safer to stay in the left lane and make the left turn from that lane than try to squeeze between a steady stream of cars going 55 mph in order to get into the left lane.

It does not say in the Times if the law will apply to all roads, two-, three-, four- and five-lane highways, the Turnpike, toll roads, superhighways and country roads. If it does and if a driver can be ticketed and have points added to his or her license for driving the speed limit in the left-hand lane, regardless of traffic conditions, that is a deprivation of his or her civil rights.

Sen. Mike Bennett said, "If you have an accident at 75 mph, people are going to die." Unless it was taken out of context, this statement is the most stupid I have heard uttered. It is true that people will die or be injured in an accident at that speed, but if someone is driving 75 mph in whatever lane with a speed limit much lower than that, the driver going 75 mph is the guilty party, not the driver going at or below the speed limit. Tailgating also is illegal, and when I am in the left-hand lane and a car is behind me, less than a foot from my bumper, blowing his or her horn ceaselessly and trying to force me to exceed the speed limit or move out of his way, I do neither. I continue driving at the same speed. The driver tailgating me is the one full of road rage, not me.

This bill would "encourage speeding and punish people who follow the speed limit," as Rep. Irv Slosberg stated in opposition to the bill. I hope his wisdom and foresight prevail.

There are many ways to reduce road rage, but penalizing good drivers for driving in the left lane at the speed limit is definitely not one of them.

Keep moving at the tollbooth

Hallelujah! Finally, Florida is acting in my best interest! Thanks to Sen. Mike Bennett, the Police Benevolent Association, the Florida Highway Patrol and the Florida sheriffs for supporting the Road Rage Reduction Act, that will allow law enforcement to ticket drivers that drive the speed limit (or less) in the left (passing) lane. Now, if they can only pass a law for all the SunPass users that stop at the tollbooth to wait for the green light. One of the advantages of purchasing the SunPass is not having to stop to pay the tolls. Please keep moving - it keeps traffic flowing and saves gas!

Republican road rage solution

Re: Easy on guns, tough on slowpokes.

At first, I was outraged: some moron tailgates me because I failed to exceed the speed limit (When did "limit" become a synonym for "minimum" anyway?), and I'm getting a ticket?

Ah, but then I recognized the deviousness of the Republican plan! After all, if I'm intimidated, or threatened, I'm within my rights to defend myself - so I need merely mount my AK-47 on the rear of my vehicle, wait for someone to start tailgating me, and blast away!

[Last modified April 11, 2005, 01:17:31]