Stand Your Ground Actually Works For Black Gun Owners!

Melissa Payne didn't see a veteran. She saw a man threatening her. She had warned him to leave her alone. The guy paid the price. 

Melissa Payne will head home and will not have any guilt. Well a civil lawsuit but no time in the iron college or the noise claiming it was a race issue.

Florida's Stand Your Ground law is controversial because it allows use of deadly force when using a firearm when the shooter has exhausted all their opinions to de-escalate or retreat from a threat.

The man who verbally threatened, followed and attempted to attack Melissa was shot.

Payne stayed with the victim and called the law. She did everything right according to the law.

Payne was trying to back into a Florida Walmart parking lot when the victim, Bart DiGuglielmo confronted her earlier this year. She will not face charges, the Broward County State Attorney said on Thursday.

A “Stand Your Ground Immunity Memo” was published by the state attorney and goes over the details of the interaction and relevant laws.

DiGuglielmo exited his car, “inexplicably” abandoned it in the lane of travel, and walked toward the store. At that time, Payne successfully parked her car.

DiGuglielmo returned to the scene shortly after, and a witness reported hearing him say, “I’m gonna f- your s- up,” to Payne. He then reentered his car, drove away at high speed, and parked two aisles down, the memo said.

After parking, DiGuglielmo did not enter Walmart; instead, he walked toward Payne, who was sitting in her car with her niece’s infant daughter while her niece was in the store.

The memo said multiple witnesses described him as being “visibly angry” and “shaking” as he confronted Payne again.

As DiGuglielmo approached, Payne exited her car with a firearm in her hand. Witnesses told police that Payne gave him multiple warnings not to approach, saying she would shoot him if he kept coming up to her.

Video from a nearby vehicle shows Payne backing up, continuing to put space between her and DiGuglielmo, while he continues to “aggressively approach.”

After pursuing her around another vehicle as she backed away, DiGuglielmo momentarily looked like he was going to walk away before turning around and approaching Payne again. At that point, she fired once and struck him in the abdomen.

She was briefly taken into custody by the Broward Sheriff’s Office and made a statement to a responding deputy. The memo said her statement was consistent with the multiple videos taken of the interaction.

The memo explains that Florida is a “Stand Your Ground” state, meaning a person has no duty to retreat if they are not doing anything unlawful and if they “reasonably believe” that using force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm.

In these cases, it is not the defendants responsibility to prove whether her belief was reasonable, but is the prosecutions job to prove that she was not reasonable.

“The State cannot prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that Melissa Payne’s fear of great bodily harm was not reasonable,” the memo said.

As such, the state attorney found that Payne is immune from criminal liability in the shooting.