‘Stand your ground’ laws proliferate after Trayvon spotlight

By CURT ANDERSON and LINDSAY WHITEHURST
Associated Press

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Ten years ago when Trayvon Martin was fatally shot, Florida was one of the few states with “stand your ground” laws that eased use of deadly force in the face of danger. Now, upwards of 30 states have some form of the law and recent research indicates they’re associated with more deaths _ as many as 700 additional gun killings each year, according to a study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study found a national increase of 11% in homicide rates per month between 1999 and 2017 in states with those laws. The largest increases, between 16% and 33%, were in southern states including Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Louisiana.