License to Kill: How ‘stand your ground’ lets shooters go free

In this documentary, Fault Lines travels to Florida and Texas to investigate two homicide cases in which “stand your ground” was used as a defence – and examines how these laws impede families’ quest for justice.

When one man shot and killed another at a cinema during an argument over a cell phone, he claimed self-defence and went free. Cases like these are becoming more common as stand your ground laws spread across the United States, with some states seeing a rise in gun killings. Critics dub them “shoot first laws” and warn that they escalate violence and embolden people to act on their fear-driven biases.