Readers of the right-wing news-opinion website Breitbart -- founded by the late Andrew Breitbart -- are being led to believe that Arizona's former Democratic governor, Janet Napolitano, signed Arizona's "stand your ground" bill into law.
It's part of Breitbart's narrative that the Democratic politicians who are now complaining about the laws are the ones who enacted them, and that narrative is false, in the case of Arizona.
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Not only has Napolitano not been publicly complaining about such laws, but she didn't sign Arizona's law -- perhaps not surprisingly, it was signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer.
"Now it's been discovered that an even more prominent Democrat, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, signed Arizona's Stand Your Ground bill into law while governor of that state in 2006," the Breitbart post says. "And it's important to note that Napolitano didn't sign the bill half-halfheartedly, rather, she even countered anti-gunners' opposition in the signing."
The post links to a press release from the NRA, praising Napolitano for signing "castle doctrine" legislation into law.
The "castle doctrine" protects people who use deadly force in self-defense, with no duty to retreat, but only while in their "castles" -- their homes or vehicles.
Napolitano signed that bill into law in 2006. (Text here).
"Stand your ground laws" differ in that a person has no duty to retreat before an act of deadly self-defense, anywhere "where the person may legally be." In other words, the "stand your ground laws" apply to anywhere in public.
Arizona's version of this law was signed by Governor Jan Brewer in 2010.
From House Bill 2629 in 2010:
B. A PERSON HAS NO DUTY TO RETREAT BEFORE THREATENING OR USING DEADLY PHYSICAL FORCE PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION IF THE PERSON IS IN A PLACE WHERE THE PERSON MAY LEGALLY BE AND IS NOT ENGAGED IN AN UNLAWFUL ACT.It's an interesting narrative provided by Breitbart, but like several other pieces on Arizona issues we've discovered on the website, it just isn't true.
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Follow Matthew Hendley on Twitter at @MatthewHendley.
