Ten mayors across Georgia sent a letter to General Assembly asking to repeal the states ‘Stand Your Ground’ law. The killing of Ahmaud Arbery in late February renewed the calls to repeal the law.
The letter was signed by the mayors of Atlanta, Savannah, Augusta, Athens-Clarke, Decatur, Norcross, Milledgeville, Waycross, Fairburn and Stockbridge.
The letter says the current law upends centuries of traditional self-defense doctrine and threatens public safety by encouraging armed vigilantism. The argument is the law allows a person to kill another in public even when they can clearly and safely walk away from the danger.
Mayors have expressed that this isn’t an attempt to take away a persons right to defend themselves on their property or in their home if threatened.
In the letter signed by the Mayors, they say when a white shooter kills a black victim, the circumstances are deemed justifiable 11 times more frequently than when the shooter is black and the victim is white.
Photo: Getty Images
Source: WTOC