# Would various states' Stand Your Ground laws empower women to shoot their stalkers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 5, 2012, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-various-states-stand-your-ground-laws-empower-women-to-shoot-their-stalkers/617914 "2012-04-05T14:32:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2012, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-various-states-stand-your-ground-laws-empower-women-to-shoot-their-stalkers/617914/21 "2012-04-08T03:41:57Z")
> [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](#): > > The law says that she must have a reasonable, well-grounded belief that such force is necessary to protect herself against death, serious bodily injury, kidnapping or sexual intercourse compelled by force or threat. In your scenario, you haven’t given anything to suggest such a belief is reasonable, except that you have characterized him _ex cathedra_ as a stalker. You already know he’s a rapist because you made him up. In the real world, where there’s no omniscient narrator to tell us he’s a bad guy, you just have a dude walking down the street and a lady killing him. What was he doing? What did she believe? Why would a reasonable person believe that? It’s impossible to say what the law says about your scenario in general because things don’t happen in general. Why would a reasonable person continue walking towards someone who pulled a gun and told them to stop? Unless he thought he could hurt her before she could shoot him, what else is there? Because what’s the point of there even being laws that allow you to brandish your gun if you aren’t allowed to actually use it? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2012, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-various-states-stand-your-ground-laws-empower-women-to-shoot-their-stalkers/617914/22 "2012-04-08T04:09:44Z")
I think as a practical matter, the key issue would be, what color is the woman, and what color is her attacker, and what color is the jury. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2012, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-various-states-stand-your-ground-laws-empower-women-to-shoot-their-stalkers/617914/23 "2012-04-08T11:48:18Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Hell, maybe I’m wrong. Wiki considers Texas to be a stand your ground state. I don’t see it that way but who am I to question wikipedia? Perhaps it’s the combination of the 2007 laws which removed the “duty to retreat” and other, much older ones which allow the use of deadly force to stop thieves from fleeing with your property. IANAL, but I’m pretty sure there’s no requirement for self-defense in that portion of our Penal Code, you merely need to be protecting property. Maybe as a group, those laws are equivalent to SYG? ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-various-states-stand-your-ground-laws-empower-women-to-shoot-their-stalkers/617914/24 "2012-04-08T16:57:19Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Why would a reasonable person continue walking towards someone who pulled a gun and told them to stop? Unless he thought he could hurt her before she could shoot him, what else is there? > > Because what’s the point of there even being laws that allow you to brandish your gun if you aren’t allowed to actually use it? You aren’t allowed to brandish a weapon under the circumstances you describe. Walking down a public street in the same direction as another person does not give them reasonable apprehension of death or serious bodily harm. It would be reasonable to keep a close eye on the person and be ready to respond if they come near you, but with the facts you have, this woman would be facing charges for pulling her weapon. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-various-states-stand-your-ground-laws-empower-women-to-shoot-their-stalkers/617914.md?page=1)