Hundreds of Americans, a disproportionately high number of them Black people, are being shot and killed as a result of controversial “stand your ground” laws that have swept across the nation since the killing of Trayvon Martin, activists say.
A decade after the unarmed Black teenager, walking home from a store, was shot and killed by a neighbourhood watch coordinator who claimed he was acting in self-defence, in a moment that shook the nation, activists say an additional 150 people each month have been killed in gun homicides as a result of laws now in effect in 38 states. The total death toll, according to those estimates, amounts to 18,000 people over the past decade.
