Local faith leader writes in opposition to “Stand Your Ground” bill

One local faith leader joined over 60 other faith leaders across Arkansas in signing and submitting a letter as Arkansas Faith Against “Stand Your Ground,” to Governor Asa Hutchinson and members of the Arkansas Legislature this week advocating against the passage of bill SB24 or the Stand Your Ground defense bill.

The Arkansas State Senate passed a ‘Stand Your Ground’ bill, which removed a duty to retreat from an attacker if possible and expanded a current self-defence law to apply to areas outside one’s property, on Jan. 19.

“Stand Your Ground encourages people to resolve issues with violence,” the letter reads in part. “These laws are associated with increases in homicides and injuries, while disproportionately impacting communities of color. In states with Stand Your Ground, we have seen the senseless loss of life. Shootings in movie theaters because a bag of popcorn was thrown, arguments over parking spaces that turn deadly, arguments over loud music that lead to the death of a teenager.”

Robert Wetherington, Rector at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in El Dorado, explained why he signed the letter and does not support the adoption of a Stand Your Ground law here in Arkansas.

“Language that starts to equate property with human life is morally abhorrent,” Wetherington said. “The idea of a citizen being able to use deadly force to protect someone else’s property or self without the proper training necessary to determine the true risks involved in a given situation I think is very dangerous and opens all sorts of problems.”

Wetherington said he is not against self-defense. He has taken a concealed carry class and has a permit to do so, though he currently chooses not to, he said. He said there is a moral argument for protecting oneself if faced with violence or the threat of having their life taken, but that he feels the current self-defense laws already protect that right.

Wetherington said Stand your Ground would expand the current self-defense law too much and runs the risk of exacerbating other societal ills.

“It allows the fears of the person acting in violence to determine the outcome of the situation and with that we run into the problem of discrimanation and equity,” Wetherington said. “For example, if I happen to be scared of or hold implicit bias towards Black people and a Black person does something that I interpret as threatening, I am more likely to take deadly force. We have enough problems when it comes to discrimination across a variety of demographics and the most ingrained one is racial and layered with issues of fear and dehumanization.”

One of the high profile cases that speaks to Wetherington’s concern and is cited in the letter he signed centers around the 2012 killing of Jordan Davis, A Black teen who lived in Jacksonville, Florida.

Davis was shot and killed by Michael Dunn after Dunn confronted him about the loud music coming from his car outside a convenience store. Dunn cited Florida’s Stand your Ground law for his defense by saying he believed Davis had a gun in his car. Police found no gun in Davis’ car and Dunn was sentenced to life in prison.

While Dunn was ultimately convicted, Wetherington said he fears that people will rely on the Stand Your Ground defense to act on their own implicit biases, which could lead to more deaths like Davis’.

“If we have laws that inevitably provide potential loopholes for people who pull the trigger because they are afraid, then we are playing helter skelter with human life and allowing discrimination to run rampant,” Wetherington said.

SB24 is sponsored by State Sen. Bob Ballinger (R-AR5) and has the support of many republicans legislators, including El Dorado’s Sen. Trent Garner. The bill passed through the state Senate and is now in the Judiciary Committee of the House.

Arkansas’ self-defense laws are established in Arkansas Code 5-2-607. The current law states, in part, that a person is justified in using deadly physical force upon another person if the person reasonably believes that the other person is committing or about to commit a felony involving force, violence and is using or about to use unlawful deadly physical force.

The current self-defense law requires a person to retreat from danger if possible and limits the claim to self-defense to one’s dwelling or on the curtilage (land) surrounding the person’s dwelling and if the person was not the original aggressor.

The Stand Your Ground bill, if passed, would differ current self-defense laws by expanding one’s claim to self-defense to wherever they are, so long as they are there legally, and would not require someone to retreat.

“A person who uses or threatens to use physical force as otherwise permitted under this subchapter does not have a duty to retreat before using or threatening to use the physical force if the person is lawfully present in the location,” SB24 reads in part.

Laws in at least 25 states allow that there is no duty to retreat from an attacker in any place in which one is lawfully present. At least ten of those states include language stating one may “stand his or her ground,” according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).

Rep. Matthew Shepherd (R-El Dorado), House Speaker and member of the Judiciary Committee where the bill currently stands, said Thursday he had not read the letter by Arkansas Faith Against “Stand Your Ground” denouncing SB24 but will take a lot into consideration when listening to debate about the proposed law.

“I would say with regard to any correspondence with a constituent, it is always something that I take into account,” Shepherd said. “One of the things that I’ve been looking at in regards to this legislation is that across the country, between 34-36 states have similar legislation or policy that have been enacted by way of judicial decision. So there are a number of factors that I look at.”

The bill will be discussed by the House Judiciary Committee next Tuesday. Though listed on the judiciary committee roster, Shepherd said he may not be a part of the committee’s discussions on SB24.

“Because of the nature of my duties as House Speaker, I’m in a number of meetings that take me away from being in a committee… but in regards to that bill or any other bill there are a number of factors in regards to my schedule as to whether or not I will be on the committee at that time or point,” Shepherd said.

Wetherington said if he could speak with either Shepherd or Garner he would tell them to focus on Arkansans, not other states.

“Looking at the context of what 36 other states are doing is beneath the leadership of our state,” Wetherington said. “I would challenge them to offer up an image of something different. Intentionally choosing not to put this law on the books because we are are intentionally saying that human life is more valuable than rapid decision making… And while that may not be universal to Stand Your Ground, there will be cases where someone has made a poor decision, whether in bias, whether a sense of hurry or just poor judgment that leads to someone’s life being taken. The person’s life taken is more important than the freedom to make that poor decision.”

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