Florida Democratic legislators are using an obscure state law to try to force the Republican-controlled Legislature to repeal the state's contentious "stand your ground law."
Democrats asked Secretary of State Ken Detzner to officially poll legislators on whether they would support holding a special session to amend or repeal the law. The law allows people to use deadly force without retreating if they believe they are in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm.
A Florida sheriff recently cited the law as the reason he did not charge a white man who shot an unarmed black man during a parking lot dispute.
A yes vote by three-fifths of the Legislature would result in a special session. But Republicans rejected a similar request in 2013.
