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Georgia Moms Demand Action, Students Demand Action, Everytown Applaud Georgia Lawmakers for Launching Push to Repeal Stand Your Ground, Citizens Arrest Laws

June 4, 2020

The Georgia chapter of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s volunteer networks, today applauded the announcement of efforts to repeal Georgia’s Stand Your Ground and citizens arrest laws: 

“Our country is facing a reckoning as we address decades of systemic racism in our policing and our policies,'” said Jacqueline Azah, a volunteer with Students Demand Action at Clark Atlanta University. “Georgians will be safer the day we get these deadly Stand Your Ground laws off our books. We’ll remember Ahmaud Arbery as we stand together to repeal Stand Your Ground, first in Georgia, and then everywhere.” 

“Stand Your Ground laws are inherently racist and enable a ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ culture that has no place in our society,” said Courtney Spriggs, volunteer leader with the Georgia chapter of Moms Demand Action. “Georgia lawmakers are stepping up to the plate, and we’ll fight alongside them, partner organizations, and lawmakers across the country against these policies wherever they exist.”

Georgia is one of the 26 states with a Stand Your Ground law. Stand Your Ground laws are associated with clear increases in gun homicides and encourage violence. When white shooters kill Black victims, the resulting homicides are deemed justifiable 11 times more frequently than when the shooter is Black and the victim is white. 

To date, nearly 2,000 Georgians have signed Everytown’s petition calling on lawmakers to repeal Stand Your Ground legislation. More information about Stand Your Ground laws is available here.

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