Ohio's new "Stand Your Ground" law goes into effect Tuesday. The measure approved in December removes the duty to retreat before using deadly force in self-defense.
Gun control advocates say it will make Ohio a more dangerous place to live.
鈥淎s these kind of laws have gone into effect, it鈥檚 never good news. we don鈥檛 have fewer shootings or fewer deaths, they all increase,鈥� says Toby Hoover, the founder of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence.
She points to Florida, where she says gun homicides increased by 32% after their "Stand Your Ground"
Rob Sexton, with Buckeye Firearms, calls those statistics into question.
"I鈥檝e seen some of the studies that claim that removal of duty to retreat causes more gun deaths, and I find the origin of them to already have an advocacy position of removal of the firearms industry," Sexton says.
Ohio expanded self-defense laws in 2008, but until now, people in public had to try to retreat before using deadly force. Hoover says the problem with the law is that removes that "duty to retreat."
鈥淵ou were never expected by Ohio law not to defend yourself, that鈥檚 always been in there,鈥� she says.
This change, Hoover says, removes the incentive to de-escalate.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a huge difference between somebody coming up and touching you or being in your space and threatening you with something, vs. 鈥業鈥檓 afraid because I don鈥檛 like the looks of those people' or 'I don鈥檛 like what they鈥檙e doing and now they said something to me that makes me fearful,鈥� when it鈥檚 not really a dangerous situation," she says.
Sexton points out that this measure doesn't lower the standards of self-defense. He says the measure simply makes Ohio law uniform across the board, since the 2008 law known as the "castle doctrine" removed the duty to retreat in one's car or home.
"We鈥檝e always felt that鈥檚 a grave inconsistency to say, 'Before you have your ability to defend yourself in some situations, you have to analyze avenues of retreat, but in other situations you don鈥檛 have that duty,'" he says.
Supporters of "Stand Your Ground," which passed the Ohio legislature with no Democratic votes, argue it allows people to defend themselves.
"My right to defend myself in the United States and in Ohio from serious bodily harm or death should be extended to anywhere I am lawfully allowed to be without a duty to retreat," said Republican state Rep. Kyle Koehler (R-Springfield), who proposed the measure.
