Florida’s new open carry law combines with ‘stand your ground’ to create new freedoms – and new dangers

By: Caroline Light, Harvard University, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: November 17, 2025

Words: 1,269

Last Updated: 1 week ago

By Caroline Light, Harvard University

Twenty years ago, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush signed the first “stand your ground” law, calling it a “good, common-sense, anti-crime issue.”

The law’s creators promised it would protect law-abiding citizens from prosecution if they used force in self-defense. Then-Florida state Rep. Dennis Baxley, who cosponsored the bill, claimed – in the wake of George Zimmerman’s controversial acquittal for the killing of Trayvon Martin – that “we’re really …

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