Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), whose home state is the seat of the Trayvon Martin shooting controversy, told reporters that the Stand Your Ground law he voted for as a member of the state’s House of Representatives doesn’t applying to chasing someone.
“The FBI, the Justice Department, a task force by the governor with a new state attorney’s been appointed to look at that case — let’s wait for the facts to come back,” Rubio said of the killing of Martin by George Zimmerman.
“Here’s what I do know about the Stand Your Ground law: It’s a self-defense law,” Rubio said. “I don’t know what happened in this case, but Stand Your Ground does not allow you to chase somebody and shoot them. So, I’m not saying that’s what happened in this case, but if it happened in this case or any other case, Stand Your Ground doesn’t apply.”
According to the Palm Beach Post, Rubio added he is “troubled by the fact that people are rushing to judgment on the law and on the case before all the facts are out there. There’s no doubt that it was a tremendous tragedy. A young man lost his life. And that’s very unfortunate. But please, let’s wait until the facts are out so we can have an intelligent debate about how to move forward on policy.”
White House spokesman Jay Carney was asked during yesterday’s press briefing about the Congressional Black Caucus calling for a second look into the Florida law even as the Justice Department is still investigating.
“Well, I would refer you to the last part of your question, which is that the Justice Department is investigating a particular case in Florida, as is — as obviously are Florida authorities,” Carney said. “The president, as you know, made remarks about the case and the tragedy of the loss of life here. But I don’t have any further comment on it.”
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