[MortMan]

BANG! "Stop or I'll shoot!"

[Durus]

"a common-law duty to retreat in the face of attack."

There is no such common law DUTY. The above mentioned fallacy is abhorrent to the concept of common law.

[steve-b]

removes a common-law duty to retreat in the face of attack

Unless your name is Wally West, you can't effectively "retreat" from a gun-toting thug.

[R.W.Ratikal]

The group who is distributing flyers "warning" that Florida residents can shoot first and must not give the first shot to robbers and rapists, are doing the state a favor.

Since vacationers seldom commit crimes the flyers will more likely help keep out criminals and thus lower the crime rate. This will attract even more vacationers who will feel safer.

Such "shoot first" laws will deter criminals who all admit that they are more afraid of a "nervous" and "frightened" victim who is armed than they are of police.

[R.W.Ratikal]

The group who is distributing flyers "warning" that Florida residents can shoot first and must not give the first shot to robbers and rapists, are doing the state a favor.

Since vacationers seldom commit crimes the flyers will more likely help keep out criminals and thus lower the crime rate. This will attract even more vacationers who will feel safer.

Such "shoot first" laws will deter criminals who all admit that they are more afraid of a "nervous" and "frightened" victim who is armed than they are of police.

[Waryone]

This group is wasting their money. If four hurricanes did not stop people from coming here, their ads won't have any effect either. I don't know what it is about this state. People just keep a' coming.

[Exeter]

Readers of the Boston Globe, Detroit Free Press, Chicago Tribune and th e Guardian in London will see ads in their travel sections the next two Sundays that warn: "In Florida, avoid disputes. Use special caution in arguing with motorists on Florida roads."

An armed society is a polite society-Robert Heinlein

[lastchance]

I always wondered why they call it Tourist Season if we aren't allowed to shoot them? As a Floridian I gotta say I love this law. I of course had no idea that it would allow me to take potshots at obnoxious (notice the qualifier obnoxious) Yankees and other visitors to our State. But hey a pleasant surprise is always a pleasant surprise.
Now where I think this would come in handiest is at those attractions such as Disney World which our very popular with South Americans. Talk about rude. These people have no concept of waiting your turn in line. They also have a very select knowledge of English. Ask them to sit during the Main street parade so other behind them can see and you get a blank stare. Call them **&%&*@# and boy do they understand!!!. So instead of trying to patiently explain that in this Country we do not hold 56 places in line for our friends and relatives I could just wave around a .32. Works for me. If I shot one would I still get to keep my place in line?

[Fred911]

"We think it's reasonable to tell people that they should avoid passionate confrontations when they come to Florida," said Peter Hamm, the Brady campaign's communications director. Hey Pete, are you saying that "passionate confrontations" were OK, before this change in the law? And just what is a "passionate confrontation" anyway....would it be something like rape?

[Restorer]

removes a common-law duty to retreat in the face of attack.

Unlike what some have posted here, this is not recent liberal law.

This goes way back in English common law. The principle was intended to remove the situation where two people get into an argument, which escalates to a fight and one of them winds up dead, whereupon the winner claims he killed in self-defense. Until passage of this law a killer had to prove he made an effort to defuse the situation by retreating.