[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 55 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 55

 Honoring the life of Trayvon Martin, urging the repeal of Stand Your 
Ground laws, and calling on the United States Government to address the 
                      crisis of racial profiling.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 5, 2013

Ms. Wilson of Florida (for herself, Mr. Cleaver, Mrs. Christensen, Ms. 
 Sewell of Alabama, Mr. Rush, Ms. Lee of California, Ms. Jackson Lee, 
 Mr. Richmond, Ms. Chu, Ms. Brown of Florida, Ms. Norton, Mr. Conyers, 
and Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois) submitted the following resolution; 
          which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Honoring the life of Trayvon Martin, urging the repeal of Stand Your 
Ground laws, and calling on the United States Government to address the 
                      crisis of racial profiling.

Whereas Trayvon Martin would have celebrated his 18th birthday on February 5, 
        2013;
Whereas on February 26, 2012, Trayvon Martin, an African-American youth, was 
        horrifically shot and killed while walking from his local 7-Eleven in 
        Sanford, Florida, because he was viewed as ``suspicious'' by George 
        Zimmerman;
Whereas Zimmerman, a self-appointed, untrained neighborhood watch volunteer, 
        admitted to police that he shot Martin in the chest;
Whereas Trayvon Martin was racially profiled, stalked, chased, made to fight for 
        his life, and ultimately murdered;
Whereas Zimmerman raised a ``self-defense'' claim and Martin, as the deceased 
        victim, was unable to rebut such claim;
Whereas a police officer is held accountable for every bullet he or she 
        discharges, and a private citizen should be held to the same standard 
        with regard to the use of deadly physical force;
Whereas Trayvon Martin's brutal death and the inconceivable fact that his killer 
        remains free should not be ignored;
Whereas over 2,200,000 signatures have been collected on an online petition 
        demanding justice for Martin's family;
Whereas Zimmerman's unfounded assumptions and racial bias led to the use of 
        deadly force;
Whereas Travyon Martin was a victim of the prejudice and societal isolation of 
        Black boys and men;
Whereas this case sets a horrific precedent of vigilante justice and compromises 
        the integrity of the legal system;
Whereas Florida's Stand Your Ground law has been criticized by both the legal 
        and law enforcement communities;
Whereas John F. Timoney, the former Miami police chief, Philadelphia police 
        commissioner and deputy police commissioner in New York, has declared 
        Stand Your Ground laws to be a ``recipe for disaster,'' which ``give 
        citizens unfettered power and discretion with no accountability'';
Whereas over 20 States have passed and implemented Stand Your Ground laws;
Whereas Stand Your Ground laws dramatically and recklessly expand the right of 
        citizens to use deadly force, and have been the subject of national 
        scrutiny in the wake of Trayvon Martin's death; and
Whereas Stand Your Ground laws were drafted by organizations, corporations, and 
        individuals that ignored advice from experts explaining that such laws 
        would compromise public safety, disproportionately impact communities of 
        color, and would result in offenders circumventing prosecution: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns unfounded reliance on Stand Your Ground laws 
        to protect actions that extend far beyond historical use of 
        self-defense;
            (2) urges any State legislature to reject or repeal Stand 
        Your Ground legislation;
            (3) commits to developing incentives for States to find 
        alternatives to Stand Your Ground legislation such as grants 
        for community policing;
            (4) encourages States to create penalties for individuals 
        found to have caused substantive harm through racial profiling; 
        and
            (5) urges the United States Commission on Civil Rights to 
        seek to elevate the social status of Black men and boys by 
        undertaking studies to understand and correct the underlying 
        causes of higher rates of school expulsions and suspensions, 
        homicides, incarceration, poverty, violence, drug abuse, as 
        well as income, health, and educational disparities among Black 
        males.
                                 <all>