The death of Trayvon Martin raises many troubling questions. Laws of this kind (stand your ground) should be written to reduce the probability of misunderstanding and conflict. If an individual with a weapon is paranoid, then danger will be felt and responded to more quickly and vigorously than if one is not paranoid.

These types of laws exist in more than two dozen states and they have been promoted by the American legislative exchange Committee (ALEC), a lobbying group. They are trying to influence legislators in the states to avoid media attention that would ensue if they were to lobby the Congress.

The disadvantage of lobbying on this or any other item is that it leads to insufficiently reasoned and written laws. Important questions are not asked or answered and hence not property debated, and occasionally without any debate at all in order to satisfy the lobbyists. Who could ask for anything more! We have the best government that money can buy.

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