> But still, you do not have "stand your ground" or
> concealed weapon laws in the North.
Here's a good summary of which states have Castle Doctrine laws:
http://thelastword.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/21/10797253-states-with-stand-your-ground-laws
But you're wrong about concealed carry "shall issue" states: nearly the whole nation is that way now. The wikipedia article has a (nice!) animated map showing the change in the last 30 years:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concealed_carry_in_the_United_States
DC and Illinois are the only "no issue" places left, with Hawaii, New Jersey, and Maryland being effectively that way.
I think this will be interesting to see what the Grand Jury says on this one.
I found this article interesting as well:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/20/2703579/state-senator-calls-for-hearings.html
<snip>
But the lawmakers who crafted the legislation in 2005 - former
Sen. Durell Peaden and current state Rep. Dennis Baxley - said
the law doesn't need to be changed. They believe it has been
misapplied in the shooting death of Trayvon by a Sanford
crime-watch captain, George Zimmerman.
Zimmerman has not been charged because, police said, it appears
he acted in self-defense. The Seminole County state attorney's
office decided Tuesday to take the case before a grand jury.
"They got the goods on him. They need to prosecute whoever shot
the kid," said Peaden, a Crestview Republican who sponsored the
deadly force law in 2005. "He has no protection under my law."
Peaden and Baxley, R-Ocala, say their law is a self-defense act.
It says law-abiding people have no duty to retreat from an
attacker and can meet "force with force." Nowhere does it say
that a person has a right to confront another.
The 911 tapes strongly suggest Zimmerman overstepped his bounds,
they say, when the Sanford neighborhood crime-watch captain said
he was following Trayvon and appeared to ignore a police request
to stay away.
"The guy lost his defense right then," said Peaden. "When he said
'I'm following him,' he lost his defense."
</snip>
--
The question, for me, is why the police so quickly to declare this a self-defense issue; I hope that's one of the issues looked at in the Federal Civil Rights investigation.
/jordan