Is Stand Your Ground to blame for another teen's death?
(CBS News) JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Ron Davis got the call every parent dreads last November. His 17-year-old son Jordan had been shot twice in the parking lot of a gas station.
"They pulled the sheet up to his neck 'cause they didn't want me to see the gunshot wound," Davis says. "And I went over and hugged my son and kissed my son, and I said goodbye to my son."
Police say Jordan Davis was in a car with three other teens when 45-year-old Michael Dunn demanded they lower their music. An argument began. Dunn told police he thought the teens had a shotgun, so he pulled out his handgun and fired eight or nine shots. Jordan Davis was killed.
Dunn claimed self-defense under Florida's Stand Your Ground law. Police say the teens were unarmed.
Ron Davis says he doesn't believe Dunn would have shot Jordan if the law did not exist.
Twenty-seven states have Stand Your Ground laws; four are considering changes, including Florida.
Few self-defense laws changed in year since Trayvon Martin death
Trayvon Martin shooting: One year later
Trayvon Martin's parents, supporters, to attend candlelight vigil in NYC
State Representative Dennis Baxley helped write Florida's law and was part of a governor's task force which reviewed it. They recommended no changes.
"We should stand beside law-abiding citizens," Baxley says. "They should not be treated as a criminal if they're doing something positive, which is stopping a violent act from occurring."
Since 2005, the number of violent crimes in Florida has dropped 22 percent. But the state's number of deaths classified as "justifiable homicides" involving civilian shooters more than doubled, from 18 in 2005 to 40 in 2010.
"There are going to be times with close calls near the foul line -- is it in or is it out? Who's the assailant and who's the victim?" Baxley says.
Michael Dunn pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the gas station shooting. When his trial begins sometime next year, Ron Davis plans to be in court every day.
