JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Missouri lawmaker wants to expand the state's self-defense law to grant wide latitude to shooters who claim they killed because they were in danger.
Currently, suspects are required to raise a self-defense claim to prosecutors, who must then prove at trial that there was no threat.
A bill sponsored by Sen. Eric Burlison, a Battlefield Republican, would relieve shooters, or those who threaten to shoot, of that responsibility by granting them a "presumption of reasonableness" — and immunity from prosecution.
