Al Sharpton is among public figures asking state lawmakers to throw out Florida’s “stand your ground” law. (Photo by Eric Wilson.)

By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting

Following the acquittal of George Zimmerman, protesters and public figures around the country are asking Florida lawmakers to do away with the state’s “stand your ground” law.

Zimmerman was found not guilty at trial of murder charges after he followed, shot and killed unarmed teen Trayvon Martin more than a year ago in Sanford. Zimmerman maintained he shot the boy in self-defense during a confrontation with Martin.

The state’s broad self-defense law, known as “stand your ground,” originally kept Zimmerman from facing charges. The law, which was passed in Florida in 2005, permits people to use lethal force to defend themselves in public. Typically, people are only allowed to use deadly force for self-defense in their homes. However, these laws allow people to defend themselves with such force in parks and out in the street if they feel threatened.

However, after word of the shooting spread, with Zimmerman not facing criminal charges, rallies and protests took place throughout the country.

Gov. Rick Scott later assigned a special prosecutor who sought second-degree murder and manslaughter charges against Zimmerman. The state lost the case last week.

The Associated Press reported that civil rights activist Al Sharpton plans “to lobby against Florida’s self-defense law prior to next month’s 50th anniversary of the 1963 march on Washington, D.C.”:

Sharpton made his comments during a speech on the final day of the NAACP’s national convention in Orlando. Flanked by NAACP President Ben Jealous and Martin Luther King III, Sharpton called Florida’s stand-your-ground law the “worst violation of civil rights in the country.”

Sharpton said he hopes to make Florida a test case for abolishing similar laws in more than a dozen other states. Most of the laws say a person has no duty to retreat if he is attacked in a place he has a right to be and can meet force with force if he fears death or great bodily harm.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder also recently spoke out against the law.

The Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald reported:

Speaking at the NAACP’s annual convention in Orlando, Holder said the time had come “to question laws that senselessly expand the concept of self-defense and sow dangerous conflict in our neighborhoods.”

“By allowing and perhaps encouraging violent situations to escalate in public, such laws undermine public safety,” Holder said.

The Associated Press reports that a small group of protesters camped out in Tallahassee hoping to persuade  Gov. Scott to call a special session so state lawmakers can repeal “stand your “ground.” However, Scott has said he would not:

As many as 30 protesters remained in the Capitol after hours, ready to spend a second straight night in the hallway near Scott’s office. The group had pillows, bottled water, pizza and other food. They started chanting and signing loudly phrases such as “Mama, mama, can’t you see what the system done to me” once the doors were closed to government offices.

A spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said that the protesters — many of whom are members of a group called Dream Defenders — would be allowed to stay overnight again.

Protester Steven Pargett said the group would “wait” until their demands — which includes changing the state’s “stand your ground law” — were met. Scott spent the day in Pensacola and Panama City and has not yet seen the protesters since they arrived earlier in the week.

“The governor has not yet arrived so apparently this isn’t a priority of his,” Pargett said. “This is a huge priority of ours. This is the largest priority that we have and it’s not just us … So we’re here and we’ll wait and we’ll wait.”

Many Democratic state lawmakers in the Florida Legislature have said they would make it a priority to have the state’s “stand your ground” law repealed.

Both Martin Luther King III and Stevie Wonder have recently called for boycotts of Florida because of its defense law. Wonder said he would not perform in Florida until the law is abolished.