The gun rights group GeorgiaCarry.org has asked that a lawsuit challenging Georgia's so-called stand-your-ground law be thrown out. If the federal lawsuit continues, the group wants to intervene to oppose it.
GeorgiaCarry asked Friday that the suit be dismissed, arguing that the Rev. Markel Hutchins, who filed it, did not have standing to bring suit because he had not been harmed by the law covering justifiable homicide.
"Instead, he vaguely claims that the so-called 'stand your ground law' exposes him to ‘risk of arbitrary enforcement,'" GeorgiaCarry wrote. "He only speculates that he may someday experience the effects of the statute."
Hutchins filed the federal lawsuit April 9, claiming the Georgia statute is vague about "what actions would create ‘reasonable belief' that deadly force is necessary." He said he was filing it on behalf of all Georgians, especially those who might suffer from the law because of racial profiling.
Attorney Robert Patillo said Hutchins can file the suit because he, like every individual in the state, could be injured if deadly force is used against him by someone claiming self-defense.
Stand-your-ground laws -- enacted by 24 states -- have been the subject of controversy since the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in a suburb of Orlando as he was returning from a store. Neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman was charged with second degree murder in the shooting; Zimmerman is claiming self-defense.
There have been 21 cases of justifiable homicide in Georgia since 2003 and more than 200 since 1997, according to the GBI.
Earlier, GeorgiaCarry had said Thursday in a motion to intervene in the suit that it needed to have a role in the case to protect the interests of the organization's constituents. The motion said some of the group's members need to be able to rely on the law that allows for immunity when deadly force is used in self-defense.
Only about 5 percent of Georgia's population has secured permits to carry a handgun outside their homes, cars or workplace. The GeorgiaCarry motion argues its members are more likely than the average Georgian to carry arms and so would be more likely to be affected if the law was declared unconstitutional.
Finding Georgia's law unconstitutional could expose GeorgiaCarry's members to a criminal prosecution "for conduct that otherwise would have been innocent," the motion to intervene said.
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