The most tragic aspect of the Trayvon Martin shooting is not the racial aspect, but rather its demonstration of the problems with Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law.

The law states that if you are faced with a threat, you can shoot to kill rather than run away. It’s a law that promotes needless violence and is completely unnecessary in a civil society.

My first issue with this law is that it applies to any location, including a public setting. As long as you have a right to be there, you have the right to kill someone you think is threatening you. The implication here is that anyone has a right to self-defense in a public space, that you are protecting the “ground” under your feet.

However, no one owns public lands, and no one should have the right to shoot someone because of a perceived threat. We all own public land, and we all have a right to be there safely.

If people on our campus shot other people on the street every time there was a potential threat, we would probably see several murders a day. You have every right to run away, and you should.

My second issue with this law is it gives authority to the shooter to determine what a threat is. There are some people who are truly paranoid of everything, and might see someone walking towards them with their hand in their pocket as a threat.

Psychologically, many people may see a group they have prejudice against and the short pathway in their brain will promote instant fear without reason for it.

This may lead to someone shooting without thinking, and will lead to more tragic deaths.

Moreover, if there are no witnesses around, the shooter can make up any story they wish, since dead men don’t talk. It offers the perfect excuse for a murder.

The Trayvon Martin shooting only serves to exemplify how this kind of crime can occur, and the prosecutors may be unable to respond due to such a horrendous law.

The real question that should be asked is whether the law is truly having its intended effect.

The answer is a resounding “no.” The National Association of District Attorneys released a report in 2007 that expressed their ire for the law. The prosecutors of the country felt that the law increased crime rates instead of decreasing them. Most law-abiding citizens didn’t start suddenly carrying guns and start defending themselves in public spaces.

No matter what law is passed, most people would still regard that behavior as belonging to the fringe crazy and paramilitary. Instead, the law only allowed for criminals to start justifying their crimes.

With no witnesses around, they could easily shoot another citizen on the street and say that they felt threatened by deadly force.

The district attorneys are unable to prosecute or even fully investigate such incidents. As a law, it has only served to increase crime in Florida and not decrease it.

The law is even unnecessary in that there are other mechanisms for citizens to defend themselves.

There are alternatives to deadly force in a threatening situation, such as mace or a Taser. Prosecutors, when investigating a case, have the ability to choose whether to bring it before a court of law; they won’t prosecute a citizen who is clearly defending themselves. Even if they did, self-defense is a valid and widely used defense before a jury of one’s peers.

Even in the worst-case scenario, a jury does not have to convict someone if they felt the action was just.

The Trayvon Martin case only serves to illustrate the horror of the “Stand Your Ground” law in Florida.

As a law, it allows criminals to claim a piece of public ground as their own and proceed to threaten others with guns, should compromising circumstances arise. It can easily be used to justify homicides, especially those committed out of prejudice.

The law has not only increased crime, but it also attempts to replace legal mechanisms already work extremely well. As DU students, we should stand against this horrendous piece of public policy and ensure it never reaches our beautiful and peaceful state.