"Stand your ground" legislation should only be applied inside the home. It is the position being taken by the Criminal Bar Association. Senior Counsel Israel Khan tells us, anything outside of that, will not have the support of the Criminal Bar Association. Alicia Boucher has the details.
00:00Head of the Criminal Bar Association, Senior Counselor Israel Kahn is throwing his support behind the Stand Your Ground legislation, which the government intends to bring to Parliament.
00:09While the Prime Minister says the government is considering the Florida-United States model, Kahn believes it cannot be a carbon copy.
00:17It must be adjusted in relation to Trinidad. Like if someone comes into your yard and someone goes on a Zabucca tree stealing Zabucca or Julie Mango, they're not entitled to kill that person.
00:29Even if that person is armed, unless the person is threatening you. If the person is threatening you on the outside of your home, the ordinary law of self-defense would apply. That is my position and the Criminal Bar Association's position.
00:42Kahn says it should be limited to unlawful entry inside of the home.
00:46And I'm not talking about the gallery. I'm talking inside the house. Once you enter that house, the owner or the occupant or anybody in that house is entitled to kill you.
00:57Not in self-defense. They do not have to wait until you commit an offense because you have come into that house to commit a criminal offense. And reason of a force would not obtain.
01:07This is more in line with the Castle Doctrine, which is a legal principle, allowing people who are faced with intruders and are fearful for their lives inside of their homes and workspaces to use deadly force without a duty to retreat.
01:20It is said that the belief must be more than a subjective feeling of fear and rather based on the facts surrounding the situation.
01:28Stand Your Ground, on the other hand, is applied to any place a person has a legal right to be, including public spaces.
01:36However, the senior counsel references another distinction between both countries, which is that people have a constitutional right to bear arms in Florida, but not in TNT.
01:45Asked about concerns that some might have over crimes like school shootings, can respond.
01:51That has not been a thing in Trinidad because obviously our gun laws are more strict.
01:56Well, if that happens, the person is liable because in order to own a firearm now, and it must continue to be so, there must be stringent regulations and law.
02:09It must be suitable to own a firearm and you have to have a firearm in a safe place.
02:13And if it should run, manage to get the gun and go out there and commit a criminal offence like shooting in a school and so on, you are criminally responsible.
02:22We don't have those type of laws here like in Texas and so on. In Texas, you have the right to own arms.
02:26The senior counsel says all of the tests and requirements which apply to deciding who can acquire legal firearms must still be enforced.
02:35But as it stands now, what the law will and will not entail is a matter of speculation.
02:41If it is in fact applied to the yard space, would you have any concerns there?
02:46No, no, no, no, no, no, no. We will be objecting to that and it will not apply to that.
02:50It would be totally ridiculous.
02:51Somebody coming here to see their mango, where's Avocan, you shoot them and kill them? No?
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