The Visible Bad Guy: The Importance of Making Race Central in Understanding Stand Your Ground Laws

• In Event: 163 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Paper Session. Race and Law on the 50th Anniversary of the US Civil Rights Act

Abstract

In recent years, the violent crime rate has dropped to near record lows. At the same time, there has been an explosion in the number of private citizens who obtain a license to carry a concealed firearm in public. There are now nearly eight million people with concealed carry permits nation-wide, and yet little is known about how they think about crime, threat, and self-defense. An analysis of in-depth interviews with 36 concealed handgun license holders in Texas suggests that while concealed-carry instructors explain threat in ostensibly race-neutral, colorblind language, license holders themselves utilize racialized and classed understandings of crime as they navigate public spaces. As this research makes clear, the way that license holders think about crime, victimization, and their own positionality within these dynamics, are critical components in understanding the social implications of an armed citizenry. These findings suggest that it is critical to examine the centrality of race in the killings of Trayvon Martin, Jonathan Ferrell, and others, and they suggest the need to revisit Stand Your Ground legislation.

Author

• Angela Stroud, Northland College