This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. is a Senior Lecturer on Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at
Twenty years ago, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush signed the first 鈥渟tand your ground鈥� law, calling it a .鈥�
The law鈥檚 creators promised it would if they used force in self-defense. Then-Florida state Rep. Dennis Baxley, who cosponsored the bill, claimed 鈥� in the wake of for the killing of Trayvon Martin 鈥� that if we empower people to stop violent acts.鈥�
I鈥檓 a who has studied the roots of stand your ground laws. I in 2017. My ongoing investigation of the laws suggests that, 20 years on, they have not made communities any safer, nor have they helped prevent crime. In fact, there is reliable evidence they have done just the opposite.
In the past 20 years, stand your ground has spread to 38 states.
Then, in September 2025, an appellate court on the open carry of firearms.
Florida鈥檚 attorney general, James Uthmeier, quickly announced that ,鈥� directing law enforcement not to arrest people who display handguns in public.
, enacted in 2023, adults without a criminal record also to carry firearms publicly.
In my view, this combination of stand your ground, open carry and permitless carry is likely to make the Sunshine State far less safe.
Let鈥檚 look at the evidence.
What 鈥榮tand your ground鈥� means
Under traditional self-defense law, a person had a 鈥� to try to avoid a violent confrontation if they could safely do so 鈥� before resorting to deadly force.
The main exception to the duty to retreat was known as the , whereby people could defend themselves, with force if necessary, if they were attacked in their own homes.
Stand your ground laws effectively expand the boundaries of the castle doctrine to the wider world, removing the duty to retreat and allowing people to use lethal force anywhere they have a legal right to be, as long as they believe it鈥檚 necessary to prevent death or serious harm.
On paper, the expansion of the right to self-defense may sound reasonable. But in practice, stand your ground laws have by for some who claim self-defense and shifting the .
While supporters of these laws claim they mitigate crime and make people safer, . The nonpartisan RAND Corp. discovered that states adopting stand your ground laws experienced , typically between 8% and 11% higher than before the laws took effect.
A study of violent crime in Florida revealed following the 2005 passage of the stand your ground law. There is that these laws deter crime.
On the contrary, evidence shows that stand your ground laws of .
Stand your ground and race
While the language of stand your ground laws is race-neutral, their enforcement is not. Data from the and the show that in states with stand your ground laws, homicides are far more likely to be deemed 鈥渏ustified鈥� when the shooter is white and the victim is Black.
I鈥檝e found that not only when force is justified but who is justified in using force.
In my assessment, these laws don鈥檛 create racial bias. Rather, they magnify the biases already present in our criminal legal system. They give broader discretion to a legal system in which law enforcement officers, judges, prosecutors and juries often hold unacknowledged biases that associate , while perceiving white people who say they were defending themselves as credible.
Seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin was unarmed when George Zimmerman shot and killed him on March 20, 2012, in Sanford, Fla. Zimmerman claimed he killed Martin in self-defense and was acquitted by a jury. That dynamic is visible in a growing multitude of cases, such as the shootings of unarmed teenagers , , and .
Each instance illustrates how stand your ground transforms ordinary mistakes or misunderstandings into lethal outcomes, and how armed citizens鈥� claims of 鈥渞easonable fear鈥� often reflect racial stereotypes more than objective threats.
A dangerous mix
Florida鈥檚 legalization of open carry intersects with the state鈥檚 permitless carry and stand your ground laws in alarming ways. 鈥� and 鈥� of guns in everyday life.
Combined with the removal of licensing procedures and training requirements, laws that broaden the right to use deadly force create a for opportunistic violence.
When everyone is visibly armed, every encounter can . And when the law tells you that you don鈥檛 have to back down, that perception can turn lethal in seconds.
Florida has become a model for what call 鈥渇reedom鈥� but what see as a recipe for more shootings and more death.
National implications: 鈥楻eciprocity鈥� and expansion
Two decades later, , in various forms, to 38 states. While 30 states have legislatively enacted stand your ground statutes like Florida鈥檚, eight others implement stand your ground that effectively remove the duty to retreat.
On top of this, 29 states have enacted laws allowing permitless carry, and 47 , though restrictions vary across the states.
President Donald Trump has made clear he wants to take this deregulatory approach nationwide. While on the campaign trail, he , which would require all states to allow people from states with permissive laws to exercise those rights in all 50. 鈥淵our Second Amendment does not end at the state line,鈥� he .
If that vision becomes reality, it would mean the most permissive state laws will set the standard for the entire country. National reciprocity would allow Floridians, and other gun owners from permitless carry states, to carry their firearms 鈥� and potentially claim stand your ground immunity 鈥� in any other state, including those with stricter rules and .
This prospect raises deep questions about states鈥� rights, safety and justice. Research shows that stand your ground laws increase homicide and exacerbate racial disparities. National reciprocity would export those effects nationwide.
In my view, the convergence of stand your ground, open carry and national reciprocity marks the culmination of a 20-year experiment in armed citizenship. The results are clear: more people armed, more shootings and more deaths 鈥渏ustified.鈥�
The question now is whether the rest of the nation will follow Florida鈥檚 lead.
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