John Oliver ripped Stand Your Ground (SYG) laws this past weekend during his TV show “Last Week Tonight” on HBO.
“Stand-your-ground has contributed to a society where vigilantes with guns can decide what is safety, who is a threat, and what the punishment should be,” exclaimed the Oliver. “They have turbocharged everything from road rage incidents to pointless disputes over dog weights.”
The comedian advised America, do not “pass any more stand-your-ground laws and repeal the ones that exist. They are redundant solutions to a made-up problem and they are actively doing harm.”
Is he right? Are SYG laws the bane of society?
The short answer is: no. Because they are predicated on what a “reasonable person” would do given the known facts of the situation. Additionally, one is typically disqualified from invoking an SYG defense if that person was in the process of committing a forcible felony.
Let’s back up a moment and clarify what exactly an SYG law does. Basically, it protects your right to use force, including deadly force, in the public square if someone is about to cause you death or great bodily harm.
SEE ALSO: Know When to Stand Your Ground and When You Have a Duty to Retreat (Part I – Stand Your Ground)
You can’t, for example, go around shooting people who call you mean things or who look at you funny. Because that is patently unreasonable. Your life was never in imminent danger. You’d be shooting people over hurt feelings — which is never a legitimate reason to use lethal force.
Likewise, a rapist cannot invoke the SYG defense following a deadly shooting if he was in the process of raping a victim at the time of the confrontation. Rape is a criminal act that voids the perp’s access to certain legal protections and rights. Under the circumstances, the rapist would probably be charged with both sexual assault and murder.
Make sense?
However, if a brutish mugger armed with a stiletto knife suddenly charges you and your family with the apparent intent of impaling your wife while you’re exiting a movie theater, you may draw your gun in self-defense to eliminate the threat.
Why? Because given the circumstances it’s what a “reasonable” husband would do.
Under SYG, there is no duty to retreat, which basically means there is nothing in the law that says that you have to first attempt to remove yourself from the situation, provided you can do so safely. In what is tantamount to a kill or be killed situation, so long as you are acting in accordance with the law, i.e. not committing a major crime, you can use force to defend yourself and your family.
Bottom line, Oliver’s criticisms of SYG laws don’t hold water. SYG laws are designed to protect the law-abiding. Sure, there are going to be instances where criminals and idiots use SYG in court and get off. Oliver may have alluded to some in his skit. Without knowing the specific details of the cases he highlighted it’s hard to say for sure. But, that’s just the nature of our justice system. Sometimes bad people don’t get the justice they deserve.
But that’s much better than the inverse — innocent people getting incarcerated or, more commonly in the case of self-defense encounters, put on the path to financial ruin because of the legal costs associated with defending oneself on both criminal and civil fronts.
SEE ALSO: Know When to Stand Your Ground and When You Have a Duty to Retreat (Part II – Duty to Retreat)
And really, that’s probably the most important aspect of SYG laws. The civil and criminal immunity that is afforded to the lawful self-defender. No doubt there will still be legal costs associated with making a successful SYG defense before a judge, but they’ll be much less than if that individual was forced to go to trial in criminal court and subsequently sued in civil court.
Keep good guys out of prison and from going bankrupt for protecting themselves and the ones they love. That’s the point of SYG laws. When they’re correctly framed in this light, only a fool would call for their repeal.
If you’re interested in learning more about SYG laws, still, to this day, the best defense of SYG laws I’ve seen comes from legendary firearms trainer and 2A defender, Massad Ayoob. If you have roughly 16 minutes, it’s totally worth watching. Ayoob dispels many of the myths about SYG laws and explains why SYG is a sensible doctrine backed by historical precedent.
Who the Hell is John Rogers? Why does he get to comment?
I did 2 tours in Iraq fighting for this country (we won’t get into the right or wrong, I followed orders). So, I’ll be damned if I’m going to let some douche(s) who thinks he’s a “tough guy” break into my house, cause any harm to me, my family, or relatives, even friends, or steal anything I worked my azz off for. If he’s got a weapon, say a knife, I’ll go at him with a knife. If he has a gun, he better be a better shot then me.
Sorry John, but if someone is trying to break down your door at 3am with cars in the driveway they are very likely intent on harming or killing you to get what they want. There is no ‘de-escalating’ or ‘retreating’ from those kind of situations, which is mainly what Stand Your Ground laws were created for. They give you the right to stop the threat to your personal safety (and those around/with you) by using deadly force if necessary when criminals invade your home, workplace or vehicle. When they engage in this criminal behavior, their intent is unknown and should be presumed deadly (unless they demonstrate otherwise). Remember when seconds count, the police are only minutes away. That’s why we need Stand Your Ground laws to protect law-abiding citizens from criminals who violate their person and property.
Oliver’s reference to both the Scrub Jay and an animated character from the The Hill pretty much shows he can’t be logical nor intellectual in his arguments.
In addition, he made the claim of “racial disparity” in the Laws, but utterly failed to defend or argue that claim!
And Homicide rates in MOST major Democrat run cities is WAY UP, and they Don’t have SYG laws, so that pretty much shows he didn’t bother to research his claims.
Deceit seems to be his claim to fame here, he proved NONE of his claims.
Who the HELL is John Oliver??
John Oliver? Lecture on SYG laws? He have a credential in criminal justice? Is he a LEO? John, go pound sand. IMO HBO should reduce by half compensation for it’s employees. Why do I make that comment? Because I want to. That’s my opinion.
Sure, a hack comedian is my go-to for 2nd amendment information. And next week I’m taking teleprompter reading classes from Biden
John Oliver isn’t even American. Let him worry about whatever nation he crawled out from under.
Always easy to pontificate on subjects you’re completely ignorant of (just ask any mainstream ‘journalist’)…and if you want to be taken seriously – at least by those as ignorant as you – at least wait until more than three people know who you are.
I’m so sick of British people crying about our guns in America didn’t we have kick their asses over freedom before? I could care less what any foreigner has to say about our country if you don’t like it go home and stay there.
This British donkey can pack his arse up and move back to where he came from if he doesn’t like our laws.
he has guards around him. cnn, no one believes them.
Clown from the UK. Don’t care about him or his opinion. At all.
One night as John Oliver sits in his living room whilst contempalting new jokes and assorted other stupid things to comment upon – armed criminals will storm his abode, knowing full well that this is the home of a VICTIM..
A Brit doesn’t understand how gun laws and seld defense works. I’m shocked.
Wait…isn’t he a “comedian”? This is a joke right?
When these people are crushed along with their stupid notions we will for a time enjoy peace and freedom. Counting down the days until people recognize the only choice and set their minds to doing ir
VILLAGE IDIOT!!!!! 🤪
YEA, YOU PROBABLY ARE, but try and appear to not be so, then perhaps people won’t categorize you as such!!
So it’s perfectly all right for ANYBODY to go to John Oliver’s home, break in, and do whatever they want – including kill him or a family member of his? That seems to be what he is saying. Good to know. BUT, it is NOT OK to try and do the same thing in mine! I WILL shoot whoever breaks in.
Another response by yet another “genius.” Why is it THATS many of the gun nuts that respond on this forum seem to have missed classes in basic intelligence? There have been some really ignorant statements that flaky in the face of logic and intelligent…but they obviously don’t know what they are saying since they don’t possess the tools to understand – indicated when you listen to the really really Stupid things stated by trump followers, or that total nutcase woman Marjorie Taylor Green (praises Q-anon, or says Jews have space lasers to transmit COVID…are you F’ing kidding me, and she is a US Congresswoman – thats really scary!!
Instead of worrying so much about this gun or that gun, with endless debate over nonsense and a proliferating array of new guns (as if anyone needs yet another little fetish item,), get educated. -not what YOU WANT to hear !()the basic idiot), but the actual facts or statistics!
Yes, Einstein, he is a comedian, but don’t worry about what he is saying, you won’t understand it anyway, clearly indicated in your comments, and those of others posting here. No, he’s not kidding…duh!
It’s evident that most of the posters DO NOT legally understand SYG laws, as well as others – how could they, they barely understand basic English, certainly No Logic or Critical Thinking. These people are “handicapped,” though like many in this arena they don’t recognize it or don’t want to accept it, but its with them psychologically.
Try Thinking in Reality, loose the Bullshit and ignorant regurgitation you hear from the morons at Fox tv, or the so-called “patriot” information services.
How refreshing to hear from a superior life form such as yourself. You waste your brilliance in such a forum; you should be hosting “The View” or some similar educational program. Neither side has a monopoly on idiocy. I take it you’ve forgotten about Rep. Hank Johnson (D, GA) worrying aloud that stationing more troops on Guam would cause the island to capsize? Or Nancy Pelosi stating “we have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it”? Or John Kerry’s “I actually voted for the $87 billion before I voted against it”? Please enlighten us poor rubes more. Or is it we poor rubes? I’m so uneducated, I can’t recall.
NO, certainly not superior to anyone in a humanistic sense, but certainly more Educated than a troll like you.
To make such IDIOTIC statements – to quote those statements by Pelosi or Kerry are nowhere – in any sense – comparable to the totally idiotic statements made by the loose cannon idiot, Marjorie Taylor Green. The very fact that you do not understand the difference in MAGNITUDE between what she spouts and comments by those fine people you dislike, shows you TO REALLY BE LACKING IN THINKING AND SKILLS OF LOGIC…and thats part of the problem of what’s going on with the Populist insurrection trend birthed by the orange crook and fascist Trump.
Tom just stop. Your embarrassing. Your so educated, you have such a way with explaining exactly what it is that the rest of us can’t seem to grasp. What a clown. You absolutely never served your country , and it’s obvious that you have a confidence problem. But you got it all figured out. I mean anyone who could be apart of a political group that has such geniuses like Ihlan Omar, AOC, Cory bush, and so many other must just have it all worked out. I mean since trump I bet you now enjoy watching our country literally being invaded along our southern borders, more fentanyl and heavy drugs flooding our communities to the point we will most likely lose an entire generation. Democrat run cities that don’t have a single high school kid who is about 50% proficient in math/ English. Using racism in ways never seen in history. Everyone is a racist apparently, or everyone who disagrees with your parties decisions to flip our country upside down. Tom if it makes you happy, go live in a sanctuary city, don’t carry a gun, and don’t ever defend yourself. That’s on you. But for Americans who only want to be able to defend themselves and who they care about, your not smart enough to talk around that Tom.
You’re a moron. You talk statics but ignore all the facts and statistics from both the FBI and CDC gun reports. If u want to talk genius no one knows the true facts and statistics than 2A gun “nuts”. Not to be rude but you’re a fucking idiot. You should actually red all the reports on guns America instead of hiding behind your keyboard like a coward. They directly quote both reports about statistics as in 500,000 to 3,000,000 legal uses of a gun to fend off a predator or the fact that 2% of all gun crimes is committed with any form of rifle let alone those scary black ones. Quit sitting at home getting pegged by your wife or boyfriend, dont know if you’re a she/him or shim get your balls back and actually learn something. Before you jump into the 2A arena you had better know you’re shit or most of these folks will make you look stupid. Try reading some real literature instead of watching cnn.
Jay, You ARE typical – so concerned about whether you and fondle your little guns and protect the country from the baddies because tough guys like you are on patrol while strapped – like the guy in the John Oliver opening.
Why don’t you take a remedial English course so that while you criticize someone you at least don’t write like an uneducated loser…;earn some basic grammar like you should have learned in high school.
Yup, you are typical of all the loud mouth ignorant undereducated folks that the Founding Fathers warned against.
Tom I don’t know you, but you make yourself easy to not like. Stop thinking you are the smartest guy in the room. I would be pretty confident that my education that is tracked on paper would rival yours. And my real education, the education of service and day to day living rivals all of it. The way you come across is a whole bunch of things, most not being what a so called intelligent person you like to portray would even think to consider acting like. Get some knowledge, then get off the couch and get into the mix of life, because Tom your eagerness to be credible has stove piped.
Wait, you reference HIM as “ignorant” and to “get educated” but use the word “loose” as opposed to ‘lose’??????
LOL! ok Brainiac, why don’t you ‘udumacate’ us all.
I love when someone attempts to pass themselves off as superior to others, whilst embarrassing themselves with poor grammar and punctuation.
Tom you sound like a giant mess. First off John Oliver is not funny. And why is it that Dems like yourself allow ignorance and cluelessness to be camouflaged with some over exaggerated British accent. What does his accent impress you to the point that facts become irrelevant? This guy john Oliver is a total fraud. Let’s pretend this guy knows what he is talking about because of his slang. Haha what next you’ll tell us that AOC is highly intelligent. SYG is only common sense being protected from Anti American liberals such as your self Tom. Otherwise without the term which shouldn’t be necessary, would be called common sense self defense when some dirt bag wasn’t required to post bail because try’s to kill, or harm you or another innocent person. Why is it that basic principles like self defense, are so difficult for Mary’s like yourself to understand. I guess you support open borders, and not deporting violent illegals as well Tom. And you talk about Fox News, so is a favor let us all know how that 3 plus years of non stop Russian propaganda started. People like you Tom like to pretend you have all the answers, because when you live such a sheltered life as you obviously do, then it’s easy to see why it’s so hard for you to have qualities like responsibility, for ones own life. So keep feeding yourself the joy behar, morning joe dribble because it’s working out well for ya Tom.
Tbh what scared me is that someone got shot in a sports bar over a argument over the dogs weight. I’m sorry but that person should go to jail. Same as the guy who actively went out and shot two people in the back after the police told him 14 times. In all honesty I think some people are just scared of getting an ass beating.
I was surprised at how stupid his arguement was. I have no choice but to assume that his quote about homicides. If a cop kills anyone, for any reason, it is a homicide. It would be called justifiable homicide. So yes, homicides have gone up in stand your ground states, which means more criminals were eliminated, rather than them walking away to commit more crime somewhere else.
As for Travon Martin, they did not need the Stand your ground law for his defense because Martin was sitting on the chest of his victime and beating him when the vitcim was able to reach his gun and use Self Defense Laws to kill hisd attacker. There was NO way of him retreating. Case closed.
Well, I guess this guy is a woman hater and probably should be cancelled by the left for his support of wife beaters and other similar cowards.
“Stand Your Ground” or the “Castle Doctrine” were designed to eliminate “The Duty to Retreat” when attacked in your home and in other venues. The Bad Guys had no duty to retreat and you could only use deadly force when you could no longer reasonably retreat or risk facing criminal charges as a victim.
In the 1970’s a lot of women were simply tired of being beaten by their spouses and one of the principals enacted to protect them and their children, was to eliminate the duty to retreat. Especially as woman felt they couldn’t retreat and leave their children in the presence of the abuser, so Americans agreed to all people to stand their ground in the face of an attack,
So this scum bag basically wants us to go back to the middle ages and let women be victims or put them in prison for self-defense. I guess he could move to England where self-defense is illegal in practice.
Exactly right. All these dumb Dems quotes places like England for gun law but what they ignore is the fact that murder rates didn’t really go down. Stabbings went up and now those damn dumbass Brits have laws against knives, illegal carry knives over a certain length.
Why don’t you take your own advice and retreat back across the pond from where you were spawned? No fucks are given about your opinion. Am I the only one who saw the race card coming a mile away? Im going to try and not scare anyone with my whiteness today and I suggest you guys do the same.
nothing racist about anyone buying a gun to protect themselfs
Of course that’s what a controlled brit would say. Considering he works in the tv world, he should beore worried about all of the eeaths that come from drugs, ptsd, after being molested or raped by someone in hollywood, far more dangerous and prevalent.
We don’t need some jack-leg British mouth piece, bangin his gums together makin noise about what we do in the USA! Now that’s out of the way.
The old add age, “laws were made to be broken” is the only premise this douche bag Brit has to balance HIS view on. That, and his hate for OUR ability to NOT be a victim seem to be unsettling to him.
Granted, someone with intent to break the law, can hide behind the the law also! The entire legal system is based on words, their meaning and the context in which they were used. It is possible to use the right words at the right time and the right context to “front-load” your defense. Knowing how NOT to implicate yourself is exactly what the legal eagles talk to you about before trial! Don’t cut your own throat, as it were!
IMHO….the “Castle Doctrine” and “Stand your ground” laws were made for LAW ABIDING CITIZENS! Not criminal scum bags! Criminals deserve NOTHING! The legal system has become so weighted on the side of criminals. Its disgusting.
Fuck John Oliver…Fuck Piers Morgan too! I guess these British ass hats forgot the last big lesson we taught them 245 years ago when the Brits tried their gun control on Lexington Green and Concord bridge!
While I often enjoy Oliver’s show I also realize he has a Brit’s naive view of firearms and lives the sort of life where he will never be confronted by aggressive attackers.
Definition of a conservative: A liberal that’s been mugged.
Definition of a liberal: A conservative that’s been indicted.
As a criminal defense attorney with 42 years experience I always tell my gun buddies to to always attempt to deescalate and always attempt retreat when faced with deadly force… if possible and if they have enough time to do so.
A jury may not care if you had a right to stand your ground if you are the jerk in the narrative.
In today’s world of cell phone cameras your attempt to retreat and deescalate may well result in not getting indicted after a shooting or an acquittal down the line..
I recently overturned a murder conviction in Texas over the wrong self defense jury instructions.
Of course there are sudden situations where one must respond with deadly force immediately… YouTube is littered with them. That’s not what I am talking about here. This applies to escalating arguments and ego involved violence.
You don’t get to have an ego when you’re packing.
First Harry sniveling about the 1A, now Oliver sniveling about the 2A. How’s it going across the pond without that written constitution thingy? Need more assault-style knife control laws? By the way, back in the day “comedians” were supposed to be funny. You might try it sometime.
Look closely at his eyes… he is so full of male-bovine manure that the whites of his eyes are turning brown!
Please STFU…the last thing we need is some whinny British liberal trying to tell us how we should run our Country. Remember?…we kicked your ass out almost 245 years ago…now go away!
He needs to be forcibly sodomized.
Stand your ground laws give those who think to bully and intimidate (antifa, blm, and religious fanatics) cause for pause. When there Is no duty to retreat they have to wonder just how far they can push the bounds of civil propriety before there is a lethal reaction.
If I am accosted and believe that I am in danger of assault, I will end the threat. I may face trial, but some of those who thought to injure me would likely be dead. Call it the “Kyle Rittenhouse Syndrome”.
Tune will change when he is confronted with the reality that criminals dont give a crap how woke or leftist you are when they are breaking in and threatening your life and your family. God forbid it should happen but thats the truth.
If you dont like it shut up and leave
It’s truly a mental disease. Starts with the need to stop a child from retaliating against a bully, a homeowner from defending oneself from an intruder, and a country defending itself against attacks.
Another liberal Brit who, like “Prince” Harry, has no understanding of American freedoms or rights
I don’t GAF what any foreigner thinks of our laws in the USA. They have no clue of why things are the way they are, and it’s none of their business.
I think their worship of a person just because they slap on a crown is weird, but I keep it to myself. Oliver should follow my example.
Why should i care what this cockjocky thinks? Hes a retarded POS from hollyweird hence making any noises from his cockholster invalid
Another clown that should not be on TV and all programs should be eliminated. We do NOT need people like this making stupid un justifiable recommendations based and the small amount of criminals that decide to use the SYG law which has to be proved in court. Idiots like you want people to follow rules that you think, do us a favor stop thinking. SYG is a good solid law that all states should have. I do recommend training and education on the law for All citizens, specially those who Carry Concealed.
I think SYG laws might have indirectly led to Zimmerman killing that kid. He was told by the cops not to follow Trayvon Martin and he ignored them. Perhaps, PERHAPS subconsciously he knew he had the law on his side and he walked into the fight even after being told not to. I think sYG directly led to a more recent FL man shooting where the guy started harassing a woman parked in a handicapped spot waiting for her man. That guy came out of a store and pushed the CCL harasser to the ground and was subsequently shot. In this case, yes the shooter was convicted but he thought the law would have been on his side. Without SYG, he probably would not have chosen to fire. So in that regard, Oliver has a point. I’m sure no one who might read this would be in agreement with what I’m attempting to convey, as there’s little to no room for any sort of nuance in such conversations. Meaning, there is no middle ground in stand your ground (or any other argument around guns). think some modification of SYG, based on incidents where a retreat was possible and made sense, is in order. I for one …SYG or no…would do everything possible to avoid pulling the trigger. My hope while carrying is to be able to brandish if I had to get the gun out to try to stop the threat.
You’re confused about SYG. I recommend you spend 16+ minutes and watch Massad Ayoob explain SYG.
You sound confused, and possibly not understanding.
Why don’t we do away with redundant gun control laws… heck, let’s do away with redundant TAX laws!!!
What does this $hit head want me to do RUNAWAY? I’m a combat veteran and a survivor of the South Bronx, want to guess what I’m gonna do.
Another ass clown takes the chunk of money to spew hooey.
Comedian is telling us what we should or not Be doing? Should he just make funny jokes and go away?
So these communist media types are for just lay down and let the bad guy do ya and everything will be ok if you live through it. While they have paid security protecting them! Just say no to these a-h-o-l-e-s.
You got to fight to keep your rights and freedom!
I agree, what makes any Hollywood troll an authority on anything. They are inbred idiots.
What makes Hollywood Flakes an authority on ANYTHING. Turn off your TV, and start reading about the Lefts Enemy. That is History, the Constitution, Criminal Statistics.
Your in a safe place my drug dealing neighbors have tried to have me killed several times lucky the police monitoring there phones they would have come in my house but they know I have guns so they sabotage everything outside thinking I’m calling the police
Since when have the people on the left been reasonable or used common sense. Two ideas that they peddle with absolutely no backing in reality.
He’s a twit, don’t know what world he lives in, as all states and even cities have varying social and criminal climates. This legal mechanism allows a defender protection from out of control prosecutors. Oliver is an leftist, minion hack, bought and paid for by his social fabricating billionaire overlord. Pay no attention to this fool.
Castle Doctrine laws should be enacted in every state for the same reasons stated above. If a person invades your home and attacks you or a family member there should be no legal repercussion for shooting or harming him. Forty years ago a homeowner had to attempt extraordinary means to escape his home before he could shoot a violent home invader. I read in another state decades ago where a home invader attacked a man in his bed when he wake up during the home invasion. The perp attacked the home owner and tried to kill him by strangling him with a telephone cord and then tried to beat him to death with the receiver. The homeowner was able to reach into the nightstand and grab a pistol and then shot the perp. The thug was wounded and escaped. Soon cops were at his door and the obviously bloodied home owner was arrested and convicted. The perp sued him and won.
The jury most likely saw themselves in the same situation and said if I’m there let me get free money also! Can’t fix stupid for sure, but you can euthanize it! The home owner was screwed before he got there.