On "Warning Shots"

If you’ve been following the Marissa Alexander case, you know that at the center of the controversy is Ms. Alexander’s decision to fire a warning shot into the ceiling of her home, rather than at the center of her attacker’s chest. Ms. Alexander claims she was being threatened by her abusive husband – a claim confirmed by the husband himself – when she fired the shot.

As the story gained traction, a consistent theme appeared in comment sections around the web. “That’s why you never fire a warning shot,” was a dominant response. Others made the argument that a warning shot is itself evidence that she didn’t really fear for her safety, implying that true fear would have compelled Ms. Alexander to shoot to kill.

Such responses are not unreasonable, but I think they are wrong.

Fortunately, very few people ever find themselves in the position of having their life threatened. Even fewer have their life threatened while holding a gun with which to protect themselves. This means very few people have ever been in the position Marissa Alexander found herself in on August 1, 2010. In other words, while any of us can easily recite the Gospel of gun rights and self-defense advocates that you “never fire a warning shot,” one presumes that advice is much more difficult to follow in practice.

When you add the fact that Ms. Alexander’s attacker was her husband, the father of her nine-day-old baby, and the fact that his kids were in the next room, it becomes much easier to put yourself in her position, and much more difficult to casually dismiss her actions. Beyond that, what the “never fire a warning shot” folks seem to ignore is that the warning shot worked. In other words, in the middle of a heated argument, with only seconds to make what was literally a life or death decision, Ms. Alexander decided she could protect herself without killing her attacker. Or, as the attacker himself put it, she “just didn’t want me to put my hands on her anymore so she did what she feel like she have to do to make sure she wouldn’t get hurt . . .”

The goal of self-defense laws is to allow people to protect themselves with whatever force is necessary, but no more than what is necessary. Under that standard, Marissa Alexander made the right decision. Unfortunately, that decision may put her in prison for two decades.

My wife was robbed at gunpoint outside our apartment in Gainesville back in 2006. Afterward, we bought a handgun that I keep in our house. I hope I’ll never have to use it, and chances are I won’t. I tell myself that if necessary, I could and would kill someone who’s threatening me or my family. But I don’t know that I could. And I don’t know that, if I thought a warning shot would stop the threat, I wouldn’t try that instead of killing the intruder.

What I do know is that Marissa Alexander is not a criminal. Lee Wollard and Erik Weyant aren’t, either. While they may have technically violated a state statute, they pose no threat to the public. Reasonable people can disagree about whether any of them should have been protected by “Stand Your Ground,” or whether any of them should have been convicted. But no reasonable person can believe that a person who fires a warning shot deserves a 20-year mandatory minimum sentence.

Greg Newburn

Florida Project Director