Furthermore, gun murders have increased in Florida since 2005 when Bush signed the nation’s first “Stand Your Ground” law, which was drafted by the National Rifle Association and became infamous as the centerpiece of George Zimmerman’s criminal defense after he shot and killed unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin.
This is one of those games with numbers the Left loves to play with. 2005 did see one of the lowest number of homicides (881) since 1971 when the Florida Department of Law Enforcement started to keep records, but what they do not tell you is that the number of murders in Florida has been averaging around 1,000 murders per year for the last 44 years. And they also fail to mention is that the murder rate is also the lowest in those 44 years, being the biggest 15.1 per 100K in 1981, the lowest 4.9 per 100K in 2005 and the latest 5.0 per 100K in 2014.
(Note: the population in Florida went from 7,041,074 in 1971 to 10,097,754 in 1981 to 19,507,369 in 2014. So while the population doubled, the murder rate dropped 66% for that period of time.)
The simple yet ignored fact by Media Matters is that Florida’s murder metrics show that an Armed Citizens do make a positive impact. But that does not fit The Narrative.
PS: I almost forgot. Bush did not sign the “nation’s first Stand Your Ground Law.” SYG has been recognized by the Supreme Court since 1895.
And was not even a peripheral element–let alone a centerpiece–of Zimmerman’s defense.
Wait, wait! Hold on a sec. Are you trying to introduce facts into their emotional appeal?