People need to be reminded the state of Tennessee, same as many other states, is a SYG (Stand Your Ground) state. Whereas, a person has no duty to retreat, and a threat doesn't necessarily have to be an actual threat, but only a perceived one. However, advocates for the law failed to factor in the "law of unintended consequences." That is, the law would impact unintended victims such as retired Air Force pilots suffering with dementia and accidentally going to the wrong house attempting to enter. The law wasn't suppose to impact an innocent driver in a fender bender accident, exiting his car to check on the individual in the car that rear ended him to make sure he was alright.
The law wasn't intended for soccer moms shooting and killing fellow soccer moms in a fit of road rage, then trying to claim self-defense. Nor was the law intended for a gun toting driver pulling into a convenience store and confronting teens accusing them of playing their music too loud, then killing one of them. Again, claiming 'self defense'.
The law was written with such vagueness that as to be interpreted a person could start out being the victim of a crime, temporarily gain the upper hand, then their attacker regain control and kill them, and suddenly that attacker is no longer the villain but the victim who could claim self defense.
For those of us who saw the problems in the making upfront, we were mocked, laughed at and immediately shutdown. We knew the intended targets of the law wouldn't be the only victims of it. That there would be a lot of collateral damage scattered across the land.
History is your friend. Never ignore it. Never shy away from it, lest you suffer the consequences of having it repeat itself.
"You are not guilty of what happened back then. But you become guilty if you refuse to listen to what happened."--Esther Bejarano Holocaust Survivor.
Brenda Washington