A federal lawsuit is being filed Friday challenging Georgia’s “Stand Your Ground” law, claiming that the seven-year-old statute is too vague and unconstitutional.
The lawsuit is brought by the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a man imprisoned for shooting someone in self defense and the parent of another man who was shot and his killer was acquitted.
Georgia common law has allowed a self-defense argument for more than a century. But in 2006, the Legislature passed a statute that says that self defense can be claimed by anyone in any circumstance ”if they have a reasonable belief” that they or anyone else is in danger.
“People are being killed and or punished arbitrarily,” said the Rev. Jesse Jackson, head of the Rainbow PUSH coalition. He said the law is “not clearly defined” and there will also be an effort to refine Georgia’s statute to be more specific about when self defense is allowed. Jackson made the announcement in downtown Atlanta during the Rainbow PUSH Coalition’s 14th annual Creating Opportunity Conference.
Georgia is the only state so far where such a lawsuit has been filed.
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