Back In Florida For Another Round of Crazy Republican Gun-Loving

The first time I saw this online, even as a Floridian I was stunned the crazies running my state would even go this far.

The Florida Legislature has a bill that would make it easier for "Stand Your Ground" shooters to claim self-defense and make it even harder to prosecute them:

A key supporter of Florida's "stand your ground" law filed a bill Tuesday that would shift a burden of proof to the state in cases in which people argue they used force in self-defense.

The bill (HB 169), filed by Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, came about two months after the Florida Supreme Court ruled that people who use "stand your ground" defenses have the burden of showing they should be shielded from prosecution. In such cases, pre-trial evidentiary hearings are held to determine whether defendants are immune from prosecution under the law.

But Baxley's bill, which will be considered during the 2016 legislative session, would place the burden of proof on prosecutors in the evidentiary hearings. The bill said it is "intended to correct misinterpretations of legislative intent made by the courts" and would apply retroactively to pending cases.

Here's the You-Gotta-Be-F-CKING-KIDDING-ME part: the law makes it clear that the shooter will then get up to $200,000.00 back from the state for the "inconvenience" of being put through the trial process for "wrongful prosecution".

/headdesk

Now granted, the article columnist Scott Maxwell notes that the $200k provision is akin to a stalking horse/poison pill, something so odious to consider that the bill's backers can easily cleave it out as a "compromise" in order to win enough votes over to pass the true intent of the bill: To make it easier to get away with murder.

Still.  Do we pay back others suffering from wrongful prosecution, like people jailed for drug possession they never had, or for some poorly-applied warrant that ended up with the cops illegally charging them for "resisting arrest"?  I honestly want to know if we've got a system in place that automatically does that, 'cause I usually see that people who do get found out as wrongfully prosecuted have to file for damages and sit out another decade of court fights to get even pennies back for the years and lives lost.  Is this something legislators routinely consider in other crime "reforms"?

Because here's the scary thing.  WHAT HAPPENS IF THEY VOTE AND PASS ON THAT FULL BILL?  They don't take out that $200,000 "rebate"?

Because here's what happens if that payment stays in there: you're giving shooters a FINANCIAL reason to pull that trigger.

"Hunting Season" is the least offensive description you can make of this.

My God.  When I accuse gun-worshipers of converting the Second Amendment's provisions for well-regulated state militias into a free-for-all License To Shoot Anybody They Hate, this is what I'm pointing to.  This insane desire these gun-nuts have to make it not only easier to own guns but also easier to USE their guns under any excuse.

And now they want to get PAID to do it.