Stand Your Ground: A History of America's Love Affair with Lethal Self-Defense

by Caroline E. Light

A history of America s Stand Your Ground gun laws, from Reconstruction to Trayvon Martin
In the aftermath of the 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, conservative legislators and school administrators shocked some observers when they proposed armed public school patrols to protect children. Yet this kind of DIY security activism predates the contemporary gun rights movement. As Caroline Light proves, support for good guys with guns relies on the entrenched belief that certain bad guys with guns threaten us all.
Stand Your Ground explores the development of the American right to self-defense, and reveals how the duty to retreat from threat was transformed into a selective right to kill. In her rigorous genealogy, Light traces white America s attachment to racialized, lethal self-defense, from the original castle laws to the radicalization of the NRA.
A convincing treatise on the United States deadly ascension as the world s first Stand Your Ground nation, Light shows how violent self-defense has been legalized for the most privileged and made the most marginalized more vulnerable."

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Politics, American History, Social Justice, Sociology, Race

240 pages, Hardcover

Published February 14, 2017

Reviews

[Rachel Willis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really interesting and well-researched history. Not entirely convinced by the argument (not saying it's an incorrect one, just the author didn't satisfactorily convince me), but well-written and an important look at the historical implications of stand your ground laws.

[C · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although what the author's saying was probably true over a century ago, times have evolved. There are people of all races, genders, and some LGBTQ I know who have concealed carry permits. The book was well written. The reason for the one star is that the author is way too one sided and trying to propagandize history through race and gender baiting.

My daughter who is now 22 carries concealed and just the showing of her pistol caused her would be attackers to back off from trying to rape her at her off campus apartment parking lot. I don't care what any scum politician or injustice on the bench says, if you cannot defend yourself fist to fist against being attacked by a bigger, more physical assailant, or outnumbered, you should have every right to use a weapon or firearm to defend yourself.

Stand your ground should be a federal law.

[Keane Trautner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Selected this book after its reference in Miracle of the Black Leg by Patricia J. Williams. Appreciated the meditation on historical through-lines of sexism, racism, and classism as it relates to contemporary ideologies surrounding firearms and self-defense.

[Amanda Emilie]

Written by a director of undergraduate studies at Harvard University, Stand Your Ground: A History of America's Love Affair with Lethal Self-Defense is a book that is important for all, whether or not you support SYG laws. This book takes us back to post-Civil War era and works its way to current times. From my perspective, a few key points sum it up: "The change in the NRA's focus (from marksmanship, hunting, and gun safety to gun rights) was in large part driven by an alliance of the reactionary right - eager to roll back the accomplishments of recent struggles for social justice - and gun manufacturers concerned about the nation's waning interest in hunting. The latter focused on white fears of urban crime, sparked by the so-called riots of the 1960s and '70s and the "war on drugs" that disproportionally targeted and criminalized underserved communities of color, to motivate people to purchase firearms for self-defense." And, when cases of gun violence go to trial: "Inevitably, the biases of individual jurors - shaped by prejudices of our wider social and cultural terrain - can and do disadvantage socially vulnerable individuals, including racially minoritized people, women, and gender-nonconforming people, as well as the socioeconomically disadvantaged (to name a few), when members of such groups claim to have acted in self-defense against relatively dominant social actors." When discussing women's rights under the Stand Your Ground law, this horrifying fact: "The vast majority of women killed by firearms are killed by intimate partners and ex-partners. In spite of this data, many states continue to allow perpetrators of domestic violence to purchase or retain firearms even after being convicted of abuse." And, "The vast majority of firearms are owned by whites, specifically white men. While African Americans are less than half as likely as whites to have a firearm in their homes, they are significantly more likely to die from gun violence." Though Caroline E. Light fails to offer much on the other side of the story, one must wonder whether a strong other side simply fails to exist, or if this is a weakness in her work. Either way, this book is enlightening and brings about many facts that have been (one can assume, intentionally) left out of our history curriculum. Mark Anthony Neal puts it best when he describes this book as, "Timely and sharp, and a potent antidote to historical amnesia."

[Judith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Caroline Light is director of the Women's Studies etc. program at Harvard University and grew up in the South during the Civil Rights period (which one could say is still on-going). Her book is an eye-opener for me, who am about 15-20 years older and lived through much of the sea change that happened then and the sea change that has happened since the 90s and 9/11. I had not thought of viewing the American love affair with guns (though this love affair does not encompass the majority of Americans--yet) as a patriarchal reaction to women's rank in American society (second class, from the beginning and still is now) and to the freeing of enslaved peoples during the Civil War and to the interactions with Native Americans (both still going on now). Do not let the word "patriarchal" stop you from reading this book; hers is no diatribe, but a careful analysis of a number of landmark cases and contrasting analyses of women/black Stand Your Ground cases in which they killed/injured their opponents and white male SYG cases in which they killed their "attackers." Even when such cases happened within a few months of each other, the application of SYG differed and the former were usually imprisoned and the latter usually not charged or found not guilty. Light shows how 9/11 reinforced the SYG movement and how the decline in interest in hunting conduced the gun manufacturers to come up with some slogan and change in direction to combat declining gun sales and so declining business revenues. (The latter is not Light's take on it; this change and its cause has been noted by a number of other books on the 2d Amendment and/or gun business and is well-documented). Whatever your views, this is an important book to read and reflect on.

[Carrie Kilgore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was frankly blown away by the history presented here, having been previously unaware of just how closely gun proliferation has been entwined with sexism and racism. The US now has 4 percent of the world's population and between 40 and 50 percent of privately owned guns. There are more guns in the US than people. But those weapons are in the hands of an increasingly small percentage of the US population. Meanwhile, women, non-whites and LGBT are increasingly LESS safe. This is essential reading for anyone wondering how we got here. Highly recommended.

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light did a great job job discussing the reaction of African-Americans disproportionately being sentenced for standing their ground while whites are given a pass. Abusive and bigoted practices over the years combined with white domestic terrorists has lead to many minorities arming and defending their own home fronts.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 which is definitely a YMMV thing. Light does a very good job covering the key court cases that established the American principle that if threatened, you can kill without any effort to find alternatives (the British rule was that killing was a last resort) and placing them in the context of America's male and white dominated society. For example one South Carolina prosecutor flatly asserted that "stand your ground" laws couldn't be invoked by a woman defending herself against her husband's assault. The YMMV part is that the context of race in America takes up most of the pages and it's all stuff I'm familiar with (I skipped a lot of pages). So I can't quite give it a glowing review, much as I'd like to.

[Luci · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this book because I've recently started volunteering with a common-sense gun law group and I was looking for information on the history of gun laws in the US. This book was a very enlightening look at the racist and sexist history of America's self-defense and gun laws. I found the first few chapters a little dry, but the later chapters held a wealth of information.

[Anastasia Royal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved every page of this book. Caroline E. Light has rightfully landed herself on my shelf. I appreciated her perspective on key issues of SYG laws and the unparalleled hypocrisy underlying many of laws set in place in today's legal system. I've learned so much more from this read. I definitely recommend this read for any progressive thinker.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important and timely topic, but not particularly well written. Facts and arguments are repetitive and the chapter structure of the book is loosely adhered to, if at all. Unfortunate that a more compelling narrative wasn’t constructed, since its content is so necessary.

[Noelle Merritt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting perspective especially with the recent events in our country. It's as though the book were written in the last 10 days! It really talks more about racism/sexism than weapon ownership (or perhaps my current state of mind caused me to read it that way!).

[Meagan O]

SYG is a terrible book. Not that this book is poorly written but in its entirety is so severely one-sided, full of propaganda, & race baiting rendering it useless for anyone who wants accurate history, facts, & truth. Avoid this book.

[Sara Shocks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of the evolution of the "stand your ground" concept in the US & how it went from being against the law (duty to retreat first and foremost) to culturally and legally sanctioned for white male property owners while marginalized groups were harmed by these shifting attitudes

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enlightening, disturbing, and disheartening.

[Kate Muldoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting history of how SYG has always been intertwined with race and gender. Incorporates a lot of historical and contemporary court cases to prove her points.

[Queer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a lot here. I needed this book to continue to remind me of how gun legislation is rooted in white supremacy/hegemony.

[Jeron Wong · Rating 2 out of 5]

An extreme overemphasis on gender and race spoils what otherwise would have been an interesting history of the origins of self defense and stand your ground laws in the US

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.