House Bill 89 by Representatives Combee (R) and Edwards (D) in the Florida House, and Senator Evers (R) in the Florida Senate, was signed in to law today by Governor Scott. The new law clarifies that a person may threaten the use of defensive force in order to prevent or terminate an imminent or actual unlawful physical attack or commission of a forcible felony by an aggressor.
You can read the new law HERE
The new law is designed to stop prosecutors from charging people who defend themselves and their families from criminal attackers with a crime, provide for having the criminal records of people who are wrongfully accused of aggravated assault for an act if self-defense expunged, and prevent the use of 10-20-Life against people who act in self-defense.
In over 90% of defensive gun uses no rounds are ever fired. The defensive display of a firearm, combined with a readiness to immediately use it, is often (but not always) effective in stopping a criminal attack.
Florida Carry is proud to have been a driving force behind the passage of this law which we proposed initially in 2012. The bill passed with bipartisan support in the legislature gained by the hard work of the Legislative Sponsors, Florida Carry, The National Rifle Association, Families Against Mandatory Minimums, and The Florida Public Defender Associations.
The new law recognises that:
"[P]ersons have been criminally prosecuted and have been sentenced to mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment ... for threatening to use force in a manner and under circumstances that would have been justifiable ... had force actually been used."
The Legislature intends to:
(a) Provide criminal and civil immunity to those who threaten to use force if the threat was made in a manner and under circumstances that would have been immune under chapter 776, Florida Statutes, had force actually been used.
(b) Clarify that those who threaten to use force may claim self-defense if the threat was made in a manner and under circumstances that would have been justifiable under chapter 776, Florida Statutes, had force actually been used.
(c) Ensure that those who threaten to use force in a manner and under circumstances that are justifiable under chapter 776, Florida Statutes, are not sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment pursuant to s. 775.087, Florida Statutes.
(d) Encourage those who have been sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment pursuant to s. 775.087, Florida Statutes, for threatening to use force in a manner and under circumstances that are justifiable under chapter 776, Florida Statutes, to apply for executive clemency.
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