View of Florida’s Historic Capitol with the modern Florida State Capitol in the background. (Photo credit: State Library and Archives of Florida)

By Jeff Spross

Will Weatherford, the Republican speaker of Florida’s House of Representatives, revealed on Friday that the state’s legislature will hold hearings on its infamous “Stand Your Ground” laws sometime this fall. While the announcement came buried in one sentence of a defensive opinion piece published this past Thursday in the Tampa Tribune, Reuters nonetheless characterized it as “the biggest concession yet by the state’s Republican leaders to protesters’ demands for a top-to-bottom review of the law.”

Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law came in for widespread public criticism after the shooting death of Trayvon Martin and the recent acquittal of George Zimmerman on murder and manslaughter charges for the killing. Some version of the law has been passed by legislatures in 22 states, and it’s been defended as a “human right” by the National Rifle Association — which helped draft and disseminate the laws along with the American Legislative Exchange Council. Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Attorney General Eric Holder, and President Obama himself have said “Stand Your Ground” laws need to be re-examined in the wake of the Zimmerman verdict.

Read More  Florida Will Hold Hearings On ‘Stand Your Ground’ This Fall | ThinkProgress.