Do the "stand your ground" laws apply to someone coming at you without a mask on during a dangerous covid outbreak? Technically they are threating your life... The pretzel logic of stand your ground, slaughtering unmasked MAGATS should be perfectly legal. Provided the range is shorter than 6 feet.
I suppose it's already happened somewhere.
US Court ruling: In
Erwin v. State (1876), the
Supreme Court of Ohio wrote that a "true man", one without fault, would not retreat.
[10] In
Runyan v. State (1877), the Indiana court rejected a duty to retreat, implying it was un-American,
[1]:551–2 writing of a referring to the distinct American mind,
[10] "the tendency of the American mind seems to be very strongly against" a duty to retreat.
[10] The court went further in saying that no statutory law could require a duty to retreat, because the right to stand one's ground is "founded on the law of nature; and is not, nor can be, superseded by any law of society."
UK: In
English law the focus of the test is whether the defendant is acting reasonably in the particular situation. There is no specific requirement that a person must retreat in anticipation of an attack. Although some withdrawal would be useful evidence to prove that the defendant did not want to fight, not every defendant is able to escape. In
R v Bird the defendant was physically attacked, and reacted instinctively and immediately without having the opportunity to retreat. Had there been a delay in the response, the reaction might have appeared more revenge than self-defense.
[11]
This is the difference. In the US, we have this perception that it is unnatural for "a man" to retreat. In the UK, they ask if the defendant acted reasonably. I happen to think that the unlicensed security guard was not acting reasonably when he decided to kill fascist fat man rather than remove himself and his client from a dangerous situation.
I get that under current law, the killer will probably walk. I want to see it change. I think a lot of problems arise from our stupid macho stand yer ground way of thinking.