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The debate over controversial stand your ground laws is heating up again, as lawmakers in at least two states are seekingto expand protections for people who commit violence in self-defense.

Republican state lawmakers in Iowa advanced a bill toenhance existing stand your ground lawsin the state on Wednesday. Bya party-line vote 13-7, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee voted to send House Study Bill 133 to the full House floor for debate. The proposed legislation would expand the so-called castle doctrine part of English common law which maintainsthat a person could defend his life with lethal force if necessary when an intruder entered his home or property to public spaces.

Currently,Iowa law saysone must exhaust other ways of getting to safety if they feel their life is at risk when in public.

Under Republicans proposed changes, a person would not have to exhaust lesser means before using deadly forceif they feel their life is at risk.

It is about the right to self-preservation, Republican Rep. Matt Windschitl saidina House committee meeting on Wednesday. This is about making sure Iowans whoever find themselves in a situation where they have to make a snap decision that they dont have that fear in the back of their mind of being prosecuted, taken to court and losing a whole bunch of money on attorneys fees and time out of their life when they were justified in defending themselves or another person.

However, David Walker, a retired Drake University Law School dean, testifiedthat Iowas castle doctrine already allows Iowans to use deadly force if they reasonably believe their life is endangered in their home or car.

Some of Iowas black residents have expressed concern that the expanded law would bring on more violence, not less.

That is highly concerning to me, because I could just possibly walk in a room,somebody could be afraidand they feel threatened, and Im on the ground with a bullet in my chest,Renaldo Johnson testified at a recent House hearing, according to the Des Moines Register.Just because they are afraid, they can kill someone, he said of his neighbors.

Ive watched my son walk from the back of my house to the front of my house and be stopped by a police officer because he fits the bill of that kid, Des Moines resident Laural Clinton testified.Im a parent, and this law scares me.

Clinton told the House panel, Im not anti-gun.Im anti-stand your ground.

The Republicans proposal also allows citizens who believe they are adversely affected by anynew guns-free zone on state or local government property can sue for damages.

In Florida, Republican lawmakers want to change that states existing stand your ground law to make prosecutors prove a defendant wasnt acting in self-defense before proceeding to trial, a measure being decried by law-enforcement and gun-control critics.

The change to the Sunshine States 2005 law wouldshift the burden of proof from defendants to prosecutors during the pre-trial phase of court proceedings for cases in which the defendant invokes self-defense.

Floridas existing stand your ground law received worldwide scrutiny after the 2012 killing of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin by an armed neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman.

Although the law was not ultimately used in Zimmermans defense, his trial and eventual acquittalbrought to light the states uneven application of the law.

After Martins death, the Tampa Bay Times conducted an investigation of almost 200 stand your ground cases and found that such cases are on the rise largely because defense attorneys are using stand your ground in ways states never envisioned. The paper noted that defendants claiming stand your ground are more likely to prevail if the victim is black and that blacks who use stand your ground are almost 15 percent more likely to face a penalty for doing so than their white peers.

Marrissa Alexander, an African-American woman whose stand your ground defense against a husband with an admitted history of abuse was denied by a judge during a pre-trial hearing, supports Republican efforts to change the law.

Here is a black woman who had a history of abuse against her and tried to use stand your ground and ended up with a 20-year sentence, Bruce Zimet, one of Alexanders lawyers recently told the New York Times. Alexander told the Times she believes the stand your ground law was never considered by her judge. She spent almost a half-dozen years either locked in prison or confined to her house after she was convicted of aggravated assault charges in 2012 for firing a warning shot at her husband. Her conviction was overturned on appeal in 2013.

Florida was the first state to pass a stand your ground law, in 2005, with strong support from the National Rifle Association. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, 23 other states have such laws.

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Stand your ground everywhere: Republicans seek to expand gun immunity laws across the country - Salon

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) It can happen anywhere: a shopping mall, the local basketball court or on the side of the road. Anyone in Florida can come face-to-face with a gun-toting person ready to shoot and ready to claim Stand Your Ground.

Theres kind of a subjective and objective part of it, Tampa attorney Leslie Sammis said. You have to have the fear and also the fear has to be reasonable.

In early February, police say a St. Petersburg woman shot and injured a man coming through a window at her home. She warned him to leave, and when he didnt, she opened fire.

Retired Tampa Police captain Curtis Reeves claims he was fearful for his life when he shot and killed Chad Oulson inside Cobb Grove 16 Theaters in Wesley Chapel in 2014.

Attorneys claim Oulson threw a cell phone at Reeves, so Reeves shot him.

RELATED:Pasco theater shooter Curtis Reeves testifies in Stand Your Ground hearing

Use deadly force as a last resort, said Larry McKinnon of the Hillsborough County Sheriffs Office.

McKinnon understands the necessity to use a gun as protection and how its legal under Floridas Stand Your Ground law, but admits there could be alternatives before the trigger is pulled. If you have the opportunity to escape the situation without using deadly force and without creating any safety issues with yourself, thats the best course to take, he said.

Experts recommend the following:

People just have to use common sense and they have to be willing to retreat when thats the most reasonable thing to do, Sammis said.

Because the Stand Your Ground law, although legal in some cases, can certainly leave a life-long impact.

All the Stand Your Ground cases Ive seen there hasnt been a person yet who hasnt felt horrible over the fact they had to use deadly force, McKinnon said.

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Experts discuss avoiding use of deadly force as 'Stand Your Ground' case continues - WFLA

A Somerville man who admitted to killing a Hartselle man two years ago will cite the states stand your ground law when he asks a Morgan County judge today to dismiss the murder charge against him.

Gregory Bryan Crow, 29, and his attorneys will be in Morgan County Circuit Court Judge Steven Haddocks courtroom for Haddock to decide whether to dismiss the charge against Crow in the shooting death of Chad Lorance. The hearing begins at 9 a.m.

Griff Belser, who is Crows attorney, said in a motion seeking the hearing that Crow admits to killing Lorance, 32, at the Somerville home of Crows mother.

However, the defendant did so standing in his mothers driveway, and having been assaulted by the victim, Belser wrote in the motion.

Belser declined to comment before todays hearing.

Authorities said at the time of the shooting that Crow and Lorance had been longtime friends who were in an argument outside Crows mothers home.

The defendant contends that he acted in self-defense, as was his right under this statute, Belser said in the motion.

Morgan County District Attorney Scott Anderson said Thursday that prosecutors will concentrate on the facts that led to the shooting and the charges filed against Crow.

The court will determine whether the defendant proved that he had a legal right to stand his ground, Anderson said.

The stand your ground law adopted in 2006 says a person may use deadly force in self-defense or the defense of another person if the person reasonably believes that another person is committing or is about to commit first- or second-degree assault.

Attorney Jim Smith successfully used the stand your ground defense two years ago when a Morgan County jury took two hours to acquit Steve Childers of manslaughter.

Childers had shot and killed Jeremy Lorance, 35, while the two were in the driveway of Childers home in Priceville. Jeremy Lorance was the brother of Chad Lorance.

Smith said Wednesday that Crows defense will have to prove the elements of the law to have the charge dismissed.

If he was in a place where he could legally be and felt threatened, he has the right to protect himself and members of his family, Smith said.

Smith said its not as clear who was the aggressor in Crows case as it was when Childers shot Jeremy Lorance.

Prosecutors will want to submit evidence showing Crow was the aggressor, not Chad Lorance, Smith said.

Who was the aggressor is one factor that the court will take into consideration, Anderson said.

Haddock also held a pretrial hearing in 2015 on Smiths motion to dismiss the manslaughter charge against Childers based on the stand your ground law.

Haddock declined to dismiss the charge on procedural grounds. His ruling said the states higher courts had not given lower courts any procedural guidance for such a hearing, including what burden of proof was required by the state and the defense.

Haddocks ruling also said that for many decades and perhaps longer a jury has decided whether a defendant acted in self-defense in reaching a verdict.

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals since has ruled that a defendant has a right to an evidentiary hearing in regards to a stand your ground defense and issued procedures for a hearing.

Crow is in Morgan County Jail with no bail. He was out of jail on $75,000 bail, but Haddock ordered him back to jail without bail in May after Crow was arrested for violating a protection order issued for his former wife.

Crows trial is set for March 6. His case is on a settlement docket scheduled for Thursday.

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Somerville man wants murder charge dropped on 'stand your ... - The Decatur Daily

Thursday, February 23, 9:50 AM EST

By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida

The House Criminal Justice Subcommittee, voted 9-4 along party lines Wednesday to approve the National Rifle Association-backed measure (HB 245), which would shift the burden of proof from defendants to prosecutors during pretrial hearings in stand your ground cases.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Bobby Payne, R-Palatka, and Rep. Jason Fischer, R-Jacksonville, only has to clear the Judiciary Committee before reaching the House floor during the annual legislative session that starts March 7.

A Senate version (SB 128) has cleared its committees and could be one of the first bills approved by the full Senate next month.

The proposal stems from a Florida Supreme Court ruling in 2015 that said defendants have the burden of proof to show they should be shielded from prosecution under the stand your ground law.

In stand your ground cases, pretrial evidentiary hearings are held to determine whether defendants should be immune from prosecution.

Payne said the bill would strengthen the self-defense law and that concerns by critics are certainly overstated.

It does not protect those that are creating some type of felony or assault, Payne said after Wednesdays meeting. That is not what self-defense is for.

Opponents maintain the change would end cases before all the facts are revealed and contend that the stand your ground law has disproportionate effects, as it is used more successfully as a defense when white shooters kill African-Americans.

But Rep. Gayle Harrell, a Stuart Republican who was in the House when the stand your ground law was approved, said the proposal meets the intent of lawmakers who crafted the law in 2005.

Its a shame that we have to come to this point of having to clarify, but I believe that that was the case, Harrell said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Coral Springs, said he could support the change if it were more narrowly defined to situations where there is overriding evidence.

But he expressed concerns about people who may use the defense when the only witness was killed in the encounter.

Its blanket immunity and then were saying to the prosecution, You have to undo that immunity if you have enough evidence, Moskowitz said. And, Oh by the way you have to do it at a pretrial hearing, when usually all witnesses may not have been identified and all the evidence may not have been gathered at that point.

The proposed change, which is supported by the Florida Public Defender Association, was approved by the Senate in a 24-12 vote last year, but failed to advance through the House committee process.

New House leaders, however, appear to have put this years version of the bill on the fast track.

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Bill to shift burden of proof in stand your ground cases moving along in House - Jacksonville Daily Record

Miami Herald

Stand Your Ground law helps free Miami teens accused of MLK Day shooting that wounded 8 Miami Herald Florida's Stand-Your-Ground law has helped free two teens of allegations that they took part in a gun battle that wounded eight people at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade in Miami. Prosecutors on Thursday declined to file charges against Gerrel Woo ... and more »

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Stand Your Ground law helps free Miami teens accused of MLK Day shooting that wounded 8 - Miami Herald