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Its safe to say that most Florida legislators would describe themselves as tough on crime. Dont be fooled.

This past week, the powerful state Senate Rules Committee overwhelmingly and recklessly approved a bill over the objections of state prosecutors. Sponsored by Fleming Island Republican Rob Bradley, the measure would make it easier for criminal defendants to utilize Floridas stand your ground law to evade legal consequences for using deadly force. The 8-2 committee vote teed up the bill for a floor vote as soon as the Legislature convenes for its annual 60-day session next month.

The stand your ground law says people who fear death or great bodily harm have a legal right to respond with deadly force, and have no duty to retreat. But defendants who claim self-defense under the law must explain at a pre-trial evidentiary hearing why they should be immune from prosecution. This process was affirmed by the Florida Supreme Court in 2015.

Bradleys bill would shift the burden of proof in these pre-trial hearings to the prosecutor. The hearings would start with a presumption that the defendants use of deadly force was justified. The prosecutor would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the same high standard that applies to criminal convictions that a defendants stand your ground claim was invalid.

Opponents, led by Florida prosecutors, argued during legislative hearings last month that the bill would clog the courts by adding what would amount to a mini-trial to stand your ground cases, and would magnify the opportunity for a violent criminal to escape justice. If you are going to hurt someone, if you are going to kill someone, the least we can require is that at a preliminary hearing that you carry the burden of telling us why, Seminole-Brevard State Attorney Phil Archer told committee members.

Archer warned that the bill would lead to a huge increase in stand your ground cases, as more defense lawyers took advantage of the expanded law. One of the two committee members to oppose the bill, Fort Lauderdale Democrat Perry Thurston, echoed Archers prediction. If an attorney doesnt do it, he will be charged with a failure to practice, said Thurston, a criminal-defense lawyer.

Leaders in victims rights groups also testified against Bradleys bill. But for the committees majority, thoughtful and passionate objections were outweighed by support for the bill from public defenders and gun-rights groups, led by the politically powerful National Rifle Association. Most Tallahassee politicians dont dare to take on the NRA. Ironically, Archer is a gun owner and NRA member.

Florida was the first state to pass a stand your ground law in 2005. More than 20 other states have followed suit since then. But Bradleys bill, according to Archer, would make Florida an outlier once again. None of the other states put the burden on prosecutors to prove that a stand your ground claim shouldnt apply.

And before expanding stand your ground, legislators would be wise to consider the consequences of the original law. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in November found that Floridas monthly homicide by firearm rate had jumped more than 30 percent between 2005, the year the law was passed, and 2014. These increases appear to have occurred despite a general decline in homicide in the United States since the early 1990s, the study said.

If legislators really want to make Florida safer, theyll pay more attention to prosecutors than the NRA.

Read more:
Don't go from bad to worse on stand your ground - Orlando Sentinel