Have we reached the point at which self-defense is a crime?

 
Article by Andrea Widburg in "The American Thinker":

Thirty-five American states have stand-your-ground laws, while the remaining fifteen require retreat only when it can be done with absolute safety (although none require retreat when the attack takes place in a person’s own home or “castle”). America strongly supports self-defense.

Or does it? Recently, activist prosecutors seem to be criminalizing self-defense when whites use it against blacks.

In 2012 in Florida, George Zimmerman, a half-Hispanic man whom the media labeled as white, killed Trayvon Martin. Law enforcement knew that Zimmerman had been following Martin from a distance, that Martin jumped Zimmerman, and that Martin brutally attacked Zimmerman before Zimmerman shot him.

Nevertheless, the Seminole County prosecutor charged Zimmerman with murder. Obama’s Justice Department also spent three years investigating Zimmerman for violating Martin’s civil rights. Eventually, a jury acquitted Zimmerman, and the DOJ stopped harassing him.

It later emerged that the prosecution and the Martin family had knowingly relied on false evidence against Zimmerman. He has since sued various people associated with the case for $100 million.
Once Zimmerman was acquitted, both self-defense and the “stand your ground” doctrine vanished from the headlines for eight years. However, thanks to the racial divisions that Democrats and their foot soldiers in the Black Lives Matter movement have been sowing, these rights are again at the forefront of American life.  In three recent cases, prosecutors have arrested white people caught on video seemingly defending themselves when faced with threats from black people.

Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe has been charged with felony murder for killing Rayshard Brooks, who first attacked Rolfe and a fellow officer, and then stole a taser that he fired at Rolfe. Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard is fighting for reelection while under investigation for “funneling” at least $140,000 city dollars to himself.

Mark and Patricia McCloskey, of St. Louis, Missouri, protected themselves with guns after Black Lives Matters protesters, some of whom were wielding guns, broke down their gate and verbally threatened them. The McCloskeys, who are Democrats and earlier supported BLM, did not fire their guns, but made clear that they intended to defend themselves:

Daniel Shular

@xshularx-·Jun 28

A couple has come out of their house and is pointing guns at protesters in their neighborhood #StLouis #lydakrewson

 

https://twitter.com/i/status/1277398234055483393 

 

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner issued a statement suggesting that the McCloskeys had committed a criminal act:

Circuit Attorney

@stlcao

Statement from Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner in regards to events over weekend:

To recap: A mob, some members of which appeared to be armed and dangerous, trespassed on the McCloskeys’ property. The McCloskeys used guns to warn the mob off their property but did not fire the guns. Now, a prosecutor who won her election with help from George Soros, says that the McCloskeys’ conduct constituted a “violent assault” that may justify a criminal charge. Missouri is a “stand your ground” state.

Finally, in Lake Orion, Michigan (a Detroit suburb), a black mother and daughter duo were outraged when a white woman bumped into the daughter. To be clear, she did not hit the daughter with a car. It was a “walking” bump.

The full video shows the duo excoriating the woman as a racist. After trying to avoid the confrontation, the white woman says it’s wrong to “walk around calling white people racist.” She then apologizes for making the women feel they’d been the subject of a racist attack. The duo continues to abuse her verbally, after which they have a verbal altercation with her husband, who quickly gets into the car.

As the white couple’s car backs out, the mother gets behind the car and, as it nears her, bangs on the rear window. The white woman emerges from her car, holding her gun defensively, and orders the duo to “get the f*** away from me” and to “call the cops.” The mother, undeterred by having a gun aimed at her, keeps hurling abuse.  

The white woman did not fire the gun, she was subject to brutal verbal abuse, and the black woman seemingly attacked her car. Nevertheless, in a county with a Democrat prosecutor, it’s the white woman who was arrested. Michigan is a “stand your ground” state.

With Democrats defunding the police or driving them off the streets, people of all colors are going to resort to self-defense. It’s legal in one form or another across America, and people’s lizard brains are going to react hard when threatened. We’re at a perilous moment in America if leftists first deprive people of police protection and then activist prosecutors criminalize self-defense only when whites do it. If people do not believe they are getting the benefit of equal protection under the law, they will stop complying with the law entirely.

Read more: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/07/have_we_reached_the_point_at_which_selfdefense_is_a_crime.html#ixzz6R7pyOGxX