Law would expand the right to shootLegislation that protects homeowners from prosecution when they shoot an intruder would expand the protection to people who shoot in self-defense anywhere else.
BY MARY ELLEN KLAS
TALLAHASSEE - A homeowner kills an intruder who enters his bedroom in the dark of night. A driver fires a shot at a would-be carjacker who smashes his window at a red light. A couple, taking a stroll in the moonlight, shoots and kills a gun-toting drunk who threatens their lives.
Using deadly force in self-defense in these and other circumstances would be a protected right under a bill that is gaining momentum in the Florida Legislature.
The proposals, unanimously approved by two House and Senate committees Wednesday, would expand the common law doctrine of ''your home is your castle'' -- which now gives people the right to use force against a home intruder -- by allowing them to shoot to kill and face no fear of prosecution.
OUTSIDE THE HOMEBut beyond the common-law protections, the measures also give immunity outside of the home: to anyone who shoots a carjacker or an attacker when the shooter ``is attacked any other place where he or she has a right to be.''
The caveat: The shooter must reasonably believe he must act in self-defense to ``prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself.''
`VIGILANTE JUSTICE'However, warned Rep. Jack Seiler, a Wilton Manors Democrat and lawyer, these new broad provisions will spawn ``pure vigilante justice.''
''This goes way beyond protecting your home and your family,'' said Seiler, who tried but failed to remove the protections for using deadly force outside of a homeowner's property. ``We're going to extend this right to people in the street.''
The bills were initiated by the Florida Chapter of the National Rifle Association and easily passed the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday morning and the Senate Criminal Justice Committee Wednesday afternoon.
WIDE SUPPORTSupport is so widespread for enshrining the ''castle doctrine'' into state law that the measure has 62 co-sponsors in the House and 28 in the Senate.
Seiler and Rep. Dan Gelber, a Miami Beach Democrat who is also a lawyer, said it makes sense to give homeowners the right to use deadly force against a home intruder. But, they warned, the other provisions could strip prosecutors of their ability to go after gang members in shootouts and innocent people could become targets.
For example: A deer hunter sitting on a tree hears a shot in his direction and thinks another hunter is aiming at him. In a fit of rage, ''he blows the other hunter away and is immune from criminal prosecution,'' Seiler said.
Jenny Brill, an assistant state attorney for Miami-Dade County, said the law could lead to chaos and confusion.
''You've always had the right to defend yourself if you believed you'd be subject to bodily harm,'' Brill said. ``But, in the past, you had a duty to retreat because of the high priority we give to life. By taking away the duty to retreat, we're left with fistfights in the street, which will escalate into armed fights and we'll have a lot of dead bodies.''
Brill said Florida is a state that ''has been very vigilant in preserving and valuing human life'' but the legislation ``flies in the face of that value. This really encourages people to shoot first and ask questions later.''
Marion Hammer, lobbyist for the NRA and its Florida chapter, United Sportsmen of Florida, accused Seiler of attempting to ''gut the bill'' when he proposed taking out the expanded protections.
''Law-abiding people who are in places they have the legal right to be should not be told, if they are attacked, they have to turn around and run,'' Hammer said. The bill allows people ``to meet force with force.''
LAW ENFORCERSThe Florida Sheriff's Association, the Police Chief's Association and the Police Benevolent Association have supported the bill but the Florida Prosecuting Attorney's Association hasn't taken a position.
``There's no such thing as a perfect piece of legislation,'' said Buddy Jacobs, general counsel of the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association.
Brill questions whether there is a need for a bill at all. With the exception of the section that expands immunity to people who shoot others away from their home and claim self-defense, ''this bill doesn't add anything that the law doesn't already protect,'' she said.
Gelber said sponsors of the bill told him late Wednesday they agree that the bill may be too broadly written and will tighten it before it goes to a final vote in the House.
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