Stand Your Ground Laws

Kim Gardner faces contempt. A teenager shot for ringing a doorbell. Andrew Bailey’s anti-trans rule halted. The Legal Roundtable analyzes those cases, and more.

There are no statistics to show how often the accused have invoked Stand Your Ground as a defense. One veteran Kansas City defense attorney says, in the shooting of Ralph Yarl, the facts don’t meet the case.

A new nationwide study found that state laws allowing people to use deadly force in self defense were associated with increases in gun violence.

Updated with final House action - The Missouri House has sent to Gov. Jay Nixon a broad version of what’s called a Stand Your Ground law, that would allow…

The article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, July 25, 2013: Though my writing is usually published on Thursday, the last one ran early. It dealt…

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) says he will hold a hearing on so-called "stand your ground" laws. About 30 states have some form of the law, which gives a…

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, July 20, 2013: Protesters returned Saturday to protest George Zimmerman's not guilty verdict in the…

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, July 16, 2013: The case of George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin sparked intense discussion about race,…

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, July 15, 2013: The Justice Department could prosecute George Zimmerman for a hate crime under federal…

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, June 15, 2012 - “A man’s home is his castle,” the saying goes, and according to a recent change in…