In Florida we have a stand your ground law. Anyone that has not figured this out after recent events is probably abstaining from television and the internet. I speak of the recent verdict in Sanford, Florida. I for one have done very little peeking into the case. You can be sure I am not going to become one of the several million new “couch lawyers” that seem to have sprung up all over our country either. I will let others pontificate on the merits of the defense or prosecution, the riots and ignorance that has been molded from this event.

That is even more energy than I really wanted to give to this matter and would not have subjected you to this case but for a fact. That fact is that soon after the verdict was rendered cries from the wilds of disillusioned progressive hacks started showing up. Comments like, “We have to do away with these stand your ground laws”. So, being a person that likes to form opinion based on fact from all sides, I began listening and considering the merits of doing just that.

Well it did not take long until I came right back around to that place I was already at but with a bit more knowledge.

Self Preservation is a “Natural Law” or if you like a “Natural Right”. If you walk into a bears den with a mother bear and a cub, and you are mauled beyond recognition, no one is going to blame the bear. No, the bear has a right to defend itself and it’s cub. We predicate this idea based on “Natural Law”.

John Locke (1632-1704) was a philosopher who maintained that … all human beings were equal and free to pursue “life, health, liberty, and possessions.” The state formed by the social contract among the people was guided by the natural law, which guaranteed those inalienable rights. He set down the policy of checks and balances later followed in the U.S. Constitution; formulated the doctrine that revolution in some circumstances is not only a right but an obligation; and argued for broad religious freedom.

The right of self defense is called by Locke the first law of nature. Each person owns his or her own life and no other person has a right to take that life. Consequently, a person may resist aggressive attacks. John Locke provide the philosophical basis for the American Revolution and the rights of the people proclaimed by that revolution.

How is it we have those in great numbers that walk among us and believe that somehow repealing a law that reinforces our “Natural Right” to self preservation is sane or just?

I for one will leave the recent case completely out of this discussion from this point forward. It is too charged to be used as an example. I have made sure I understand the philosophic meaning behind the right to self preservation. I am certain I will need to use this knowledge in weeks to come as these laws will soon become topics of debate. I will be careful though when entering into these discussions. The proponents debate will be wrapped in the hyper sensitive trial that just ended. I will not allow myself to be sucked in to that debate. I will strip the wrapper, reject it and move straight to an example of self preservation so that a persons right to protect themselves from aggression is clearly demonstrated. I will not allow them to return to this case as a foundation for attempting to restrict my “Natural Right” of self preservation.

I think it is important to remember that, that which God has given, no man can take away. Man may be able to punish me for exercising a God given right but he can not take that right away. And God gave us the right to preserve our life. Let us not loose focus as we move through these times of debate.

~ Eric D. Miller – 2013