Members of the Florida House are examining a new bill that would grant immunity to Floridians who fire warning shots if they feel threatened, but State Attorney Angela Corey says the bill is unnecessary.
The bill was written by Polk City Republican Rep. Neil Combee, who says it’s a response to the Marissa Alexander Case and others like it.
“She didn’t shoot anybody, and she’s sentenced to twenty years in prison,” Combee tells WOKV. “That doesn’t make a lot of sense to a lot of people.”
He says in order to use the Stand Your Ground defense, people have to use force instead of just threatening to use force.
“So what we’re trying to clarify is that the threat of force is sufficient,” Combee says.
Under Florida’s 10-20-Life law, brandishing a gun without justification can get someone at least ten years in prison. Firing it would give him or her twenty years, and harming someone could get him or her life.
“The threat of force is essentially the same as the use of force,” Combee says.
His bill (HB 89) would grant someone who fires justified warning shots immunity under the 10-20-Life law.
“Why do we need all these new laws? What are they trying to do” State Attorney Angela Corey tells WOKV.
“We have been clearing citizens for years under the justifiable use of deadly force law,” Corey says. “We have never seen the need to change the law. It has always protected our law-abiding citizens.”
Corey says cases of self-defense involving a gun really come down to why the gun was used, not so much how.
"If someone is in fear of their life and brandishes a gun, fires a warning shot, or shoots at the person directly – but it was because they were justified in doing it – then they are going to get the benefit of that law no matter which of those three situations it is," she says.
Corey prosecuted the Marissa Alexander case and says both the trial and appellate courts did not believe her story that she was in fear for her life when she fired her gun. Corey says if Alexander had been in fear for her life, the law would've been on her side.
“Shots – whether you think it’s a warning shot – can deflect, can kill someone,” she says. “It’s very dangerous to fire a shot, so it needs to be in the line of duty or with a citizen being justified in the use of that deadly force.”