Singer and musician Steve Wonder has broken his promise to Trayvon Martin and Martin’s defenders by having a concert in Georgia, a state with “stand your ground” laws on the books.
After the subsequent acquittal of George Zimmerman, who shot Trayvon Martin, Stevie Wonder famously spoke out against the state of Florida and the laws intended to protect self-defense. “I decided today that until the ‘stand your ground’ law is abolished in Florida, I will never perform there again,” Wonder told an audience in Quebec according to CNN.
Wonder continued, “As a matter of fact, wherever I find that law exists, I will not perform in that state or in that part of the world.”
Wonder has apparently not been reading the news coming out of Georgia.
Wonder is slated to perform on Nov. 22 in Philips Arena in downtown Atlanta. This comes at a time Georgia went to great lengths to expand “stand your ground” laws in the state.
The state general assembly expanded the statue through HB 60. The bill, “expands the class of people who can claim a stand-your-ground defense to include convicted felons,” according to The Guardian. The bill which was signed and became effective Jul. 1, allows gun owners with concealed-carry permit to carry them into some bars (permitted the carrier does not drink), school zones and some government buildings. The bill also eliminates having guns in airport security lines being considered a crime.
Critics went after the new law. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill law professor Joseph Kennedy told The Guardian that expanding the “stand your ground” laws while expanding concealed gun licenses “was dangerous.”
He went on to say that if there are more places with people carrying ”the more reasonable it is for them to believe another person is drawing a gun, and the more reasonably they can use deadly force.” Kennedy continued by saying that the public does not have a full grasp of the law. He believes that expansion will cause people to believe in a “shoot first, ask questions later” mentality.
Gun owners, however, disagreed. At a rally supporting the measure earlier this year, GeorgiaCarry, one of the main supporters for the bill, called it “meaningful pro-gun legislation,” and Governor Deal if Georgia claimed it to be a successful expansion of Second Amendment rights. according to CNN
It remains to been seen whether Wonder has considered this glaring contradiction.