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Despite calls from all across the globe for Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law to be repealed, Florida Sheriffs Association voted unanimously last week to support the law exactly as written.
According to the Jacksonville Daily Record, the vote was made Tuesday with 57 Florida sheriffs in attendance at their summer conference. J.D. Patterson, director of the Miami-Dade Police Department, is the only member of the group from Miami-Dade.
Their voice is crucial to the future of the law as Republican Speaker of the State House has indicated before that he’d be more likely to looking at making changes to the law if law enforcement spoke out against it.
“The right to self-defense is well-established in law,” said FSA President Sheriff Grady Judd. “The Florida Sheriffs confirmed this position by voting unanimously, at the 2013 Florida Sheriffs Association Summer Conference, to support the Stand Your Ground law as it is currently written. Our current judicial system is comprised of multiple checks and balances to ensure fair and equitable application of all laws, including Stand Your Ground.”
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The Florida Legislature will hold hearing later this year on the law headed by Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican from Fort Walton Beach. Though, Gaetz has said he would not change “one damn comma” in the law.
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