Despite passionate support from some residents and Republican politicians, Arkansas will not see a new ‘Stand Your Ground’ law on the books this year.<\/p>\n
Senator Bob Ballinger<\/a> introduced SB484<\/a> this year.\u00a0 The bill would have amended Arkansas’s current self-defense law so that a person could use deadly force in self-defense without having a duty retreat as long as the person:<\/p>\n Local news affiliate KNWA<\/a> reports that one man, Jesse Pettry, fought hard to get the bill passed because he had to use deadly force to protect himself from an attack that happened at a Florida gas station in 2002.<\/p>\n “The people got back into their car and were yelling something, backed their car out in between me and the gas station and they were yelling, cussing, spit at me out of the passenger side of the car.\u00a0 And I was like, ‘man it’s Christmas why don’t you go ahead and leave me alone?” said Jesse Pettry.<\/p>\n Pettry told KNWA that he ducked his head down and just started throwing punches over and over and over again.\u00a0 His cousin got out of the car with a weapon and hit me in the back of the head.\u00a0 “All I remember is I saw black and white and then some colors and then some black again,” Pettry said.<\/p>\n After being almost beaten to death, Pettry reached for a knife in his pocket and stabbed his attacker.\u00a0 Pettry faced felony criminal charges as a result of defending himself from the attack.\u00a0 He fought for the passage of the stand your ground law so that Arkansans would be able to protect themselves without facing criminal charges.<\/p>\n The bill faced stiff opposition from Democrats, most notably from state Rep. Stephanie Flowers.\u00a0 Rep. Flowers, who was the sole black member of the committee considering the bill, was concerned about the effect the stand your ground law would have on minorities.<\/p>\n State Sen. Stephanie Flowers had a powerful and emotional response to a white lawmaker trying to silence her in a debate on Arkansas' \u2018stand your ground\u2019 gun laws pic.twitter.com\/aZ1OQg2mOs<\/a><\/p>\n — NowThis Impact (@nowthisimpact) March 8, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
SEE ALSO:\u00a0New Harvard Study Finds No Racial Bias in Police Shootings<\/a><\/h2>\n
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