A gun rights debate on hold in Ohio, even though state lawmakers were supposed to vote on a "stand your ground” law this week, that vote was delayed. Democratic Representative David Leland and others say the upcoming midterm election played a role in stalling the bill.
It’s a law, very similar to that in Florida George Zimmerman cited during the Travyon Martin case.
For gun rights advocate Larry Pope, President of the Northcoast Defense Academy, he believes the new proposed law is on par with how things should be.
“It’s common sense legislation in my opinion, we have a right and have always had a right to defend ourselves,” he said.
But law experts like Attorney Michael Washington, say it’s not that simple.
“In the language of the law as it’s been proposed, there’s no differentiation between the use of deadly force or non-deadly force, so right there, there may be some situations where litigation could arise,” Washington said.
Judges in Florida, are grappling with that now, having a backlog of cases because of confusion with how their law is worded.
“This essentially it means I felt threated and there’s nothing else that needs to be done to prove that they felt threatened, and it’s almost impossible to counter that kind of statement,” said News 5’s Political Analyst, Tom Sutton.
The same confusion he and others warn is something Ohio could also face.
Ohio is the first state to propose gun legislation since the parkland shootings, the bill is opposed by Governor John Kasich but has support from majority Republicans. It will not be looked at again until legislator return from summer break.
