I am starting to believe that South Florida journalists miss the bad old days of the Cocaine Cowboys when criminals reigned supreme and citizens were just targets-in-waiting.

Stand your Ground takes toll? I imagine that the writer of this piece, Charles Rabin, is not talking about collecting fees in the Florida Turnpike since now all that is electronic. Taking a toll denotes negativity, it refers to something that causes pain, suffering and death.

But as your usual Typing Monkey, Mr. Rabin does not like Self Defense.

In 2005, Florida lawmakers passed a bill that greatly expanded the Castle Doctrine, the right to defend yourself in your home if retreating was no longer an option. Stand Your Ground would permit Floridians who believe they are in imminent danger of bodily harm to defend themselves and others in or outside the home. The law eliminated one’s duty to retreat.

Source: Aventura Uber driver killed man iin self-defense, police say | Miami Herald

We already figure that he does not like that the Uber driver turned the table on somebody who was a clear threat to him and his fare. But he goes on with other examples of people “taking toll.”

The recent wave of shootings began in Sunrise on Nov. 28, just four days after Thanksgiving. A homeowner was whispering to a 911 dispatcher about three men who had jumped the fence around his home and shattered his sliding glass door to gain entry.
While on the phone with 911, he picked up his shotgun and fired at Albert Jones, 21. Jones was killed and police caught the two other men after setting up roadblocks.

How unfair of the home owner to ambush these “community leaders & wealth redistributors” inside his own home!

The next day in North Miami-Dade, it was just before sunrise when Cespedes, his wife and two children, 5 and 9, were awakened by a man who they told police was trying to break into the home through the front door.
Cespedes said he grabbed his gun and gave several verbal warnings before firing twice through the front door. The would-be intruder was severely injured.

This is clearly a murder attempt. For all Mr. Cespedes knew, the man was actually Santa’s Helper that came over to double-check if the delivery address for the toys was the correct one.

Then on Dec. 13 at a home in Miami’s Design District, the husband of a local artist confronted a man who police said was trying to break into the home through a rear window. The homeowner went outside into the yard, the men argued and he shot him. Next to the man who was shot were bolt cutters, police said.

I bet this was an execution according to Rabin. It was clearly a case of an unlicensed locksmith who got lost doing his job and was mowed down by a blood-thirsty gun owner.

And of course, Rabin makes clear that he does not care in perpetuating a falsehood when he cites the eternal Stand Your Ground lie of Florida Journalists:

Floridians are well aware of the state’s brief but controversial Stand Your Ground history. The acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in 2012 may be the highest profile case of its kind in a nation besieged by guns.

Never forget that Journalists are for the little people, the minorities and there are no smaller minority than criminals and murderers. Plus they are great copy and sell a lot of papers & TV ads. As for the Good Guy and Gal? You suck and since you probably voted for Trump, you deserve to die anyway.