Ohio's governor signs expanded 'Stand Your Ground' legislation into law amid opposition from NAACP, and Black leaders and elected officials....The new law eliminates the duty to retreat before killing or hurting someone in self defense and expands the places upon which the castle doctrine is applicable to beyond one's home or car....Ohio is the 36th state to eliminate the duty to retreat before hurting or killing someone in self defense....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest

 

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio and in the Midwest, and the most read independent digital news sites in Ohio. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor in chief. Coleman trained for 17 years as a reporter with the Call and Post Newspaper and is an investigative and political reporter with a background in legal and scientific reporting. She is also a former 15-year public school biology teacher.

Ohio GOP Governor Mike DeWine

COLUMBUS, Ohio– Amid opposition from Democrats and Black leaders and Civil Rights organizations, Ohio GOP Gov. Mike DeWine on Monday signed into law, a controversial bill pushed by Republican state lawmakers that amends and expands a previous "stand your ground" law adopted by lawmakers in 2008.

Senate Bill 175 eliminates the “duty to retreat” in a car or home  before using force in self-defense that was required via the 2008 law and expands the places upon which a civilian can use a firearm or other deadly force to hurt or kill somebody in self defense.

The governor said he signed the GOP bill under pressure, and with reservations.

“It is vital that law-abiding citizens have the right to legally protect themselves when confronted with a life-threatening situation,” DeWine said in a press release on Monday.

Ohio is the 36th state to pass "stand your ground" legislation that eliminates the duty to retreat before hurting or killing someone in self defense.

The NAACP,  Black leaders, and anti-gun violence advocates, and even some prosecutors have consistently opposed "stand your ground" measures as bad policy, if not outright racist.

This new state law essentially gives people in Ohio a license  to gun down  people with impunity, opponents, mainly Democrats and Black leaders, argue, and beyond one's home or car, an expansion of the all too familiar castle doctrine.

Black state lawmakers for the most part, including the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus, voted against the bill and said Black people will be disproportionately impacted since Blacks are at risk across the board and are more likely to be feared by anxious White people seeking to stand their ground.

“Black people are going to die disproportionately compared to White people,” said Rep. Stephanie Howse, a Cleveland Democrat

SB175 passed in the Republican-dominated House 52-31 on Dec 17 as to eliminating the duty to first retreat before hurting or killing someone in self defense and the largely Republican Ohio Senate, with a vote of 18-11, supported the measure but also approved an amendment or last minute changes to the proposed legislation.

Those last minute bill changes grant civil immunity to churches and other nonprofits in which shootings occur in order and  expanded the castle doctrine to allow a civilian to kill or injure a person in self defense beyond his or her car or home to other places. 

The Cincinnati NAACP chapter unsuccessfully lobbied Gov. DeWine, who is up for reelection in 2022,  to veto the bill.

Cincinnati NAACP President Joe Mallory called the  new state law, "a shoot-to-kill bill."

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest, and the most read independent digital news in Ohio. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.