On Sunday’s “This Week” on ABC, Washington Post columnist George Will told host George Stephanopoulos that there were takeaways from the Trayvon Martin tragedy that has consumed the news cycle over the past several days.
First, he explained the flaws in the “stand your ground” law, which he said seems to citizens to give them certain rights that are normally held only by trained law enforcement personnel.
“That the law in question — the so-called ‘stand your ground’ law is a bad idea,” Will said. “Because it tries to codify a right of self-defense, but it really confers upon citizens the illusion at least that they have something like powers exercised by highly trained police officers. Mr. Zimmerman says he was acting under this self-defense law. But he is said to have been recorded saying he is in pursuit of the person. You cannot be in pursuit and acting in self-defense.”
However, Will cautioned viewers by reminding them of how the media and others jumped to conclusions in the 2006 Duke Lacrosse case.
“But the problem is, of course, at this point, we all ought to remember something,” Will said. “The last time everyone in the media and certain well-known agitators got up on their high horses and galloped off in all directions was the Duke Lacrosse case and everyone was wrong.”