Local

Gun Rights Group Seeks to Intervene in ‘Stand Your Ground’ Lawsuit

November 7th, 2013

A Georgia group that advocates for the rights of gun owners wants to put a stop to a lawsuit challenging Georgia’s “Stand Your Ground” law. The lawsuit was just filed by the Georgia Push Coalition and two other plaintiffs.

GeorgiaCarry.Org filed a motion on Tuesday asking a federal judge to allow the organization to participate in the lawsuit. The gun rights group also filed another motion asking for the lawsuit to be dismissed Jerry Henry is executive director of GeorgiaCarry.Org.

“We’re wanting to intervene in the motion in that the lawsuit is being filed on behalf of all the people of Georgia. Obviously it’s not, because we and our members would be more likely probably to need that law because of the fact we carry firearms to protect ourselves from an aggressive criminal.”

But when Reverend Jesse Jackson announced the coalition was filing the lawsuit last week, he said the law should be declared unconstitutional because it’s applied unevenly.

“The law to be just should be consistent and not arbitrary. There is a racial component in its application. We saw it in Florida, We see it in Georgia.”

Georgia’s law says using force is justified when a person reasonably believes it is necessary for self-defense or to defend someone else. Stand your ground laws received national attention after the Florida shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.