John Oliver has spoken about America’s gun problem before, with segments covering both the NRA and the NRA’s (very real, and very disturbing) TV channel — and during the latest Last Week Tonight episode, he addressed the issue again.
This time the focus was “stand your ground” laws — the laws that enable people in 30 U.S. states to respond to a threat of physical injury with lethal force, without trying to escape the situation first.
“Despite being introduced to increase safety, ‘stand your ground’ laws actually increase violence, and given around four centuries of history, basing a law around who’s afraid of who was always going to be dangerous,” says Oliver, going on to cite the racial disparities in how the law is applied. “The odds a white on Black homicide was deemed justified by the police were 281 percent greater than the odds a white on white homicide was — and the expansion of ‘stand your ground’ laws have appeared to worsen that disparity.”
Ultimately, Oliver argues that “stand your ground” laws have contributed to a society where vigilantes with guns have a right to decide who is a threat, and what the punishment should be.
“So what can we do?” he asks. “Well the answer is actually pretty simple: Don’t pass any more ‘stand your ground’ laws, and repeal the ones that exist. They’re redundant solutions to a made-up problem and they are actively doing harm.”