Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

NRA Declares Victory, After Gov. Scott Signs Stand Your Ground-Related Bill Into Law

National Rifle Association's Marion Hammer
Jeffrey Camp
/
The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.
National Rifle Association's Marion Hammer
Credit Jeffrey Camp
/
The Florida Channel
National Rifle Association's Marion Hammer

A gun rights group is declaring victory, after Governor Rick Scott signed a Stand Your Ground-related bill into law last week.

The new law changes the role of prosecutors during a Stand Your Ground immunity hearing. Before the Governor signed the bill into law, the accused claiming self-defense had to prove their claim was justified in order to avoid a trial. But, the new law shifts that burden to prosecutors during the pre-trial hearing—a change National Rifle Association’s Marion Hammer says is long overdue.

“In 2008, prosecutors and some sympathetic judges found a way to usurp the law by creating a special hearing and reversing the burden of proof and have been requiring people who use self-defense to prove they are innocent,” said Hammer. “That’s wrong. The legislature went back and fixed it.”

The new law stems from a dissenting opinion of a 2015 Florida Supreme Court decision. In the majority opinion, justices ruled the burden should stay with the defendant, so prosecutors wouldn’t have to prove their case twice.

For more news updates, follow Sascha Cordner on Twitter: @SaschaCordner .

Copyright 2020 WFSU. To see more, visit WFSU.