On Sunday, Arizona Sen. John McCain said that his home state should review its "stand your ground" law, which is similar to the Florida statute that has been the focus of attention in the wake of Trayvon Martin's death and George Zimmerman's subsequent acquittal.
But on Monday, Florida Sen. Bill Nelson wasn't willing to make such a request.
Speaking with reporters at Tampa International Airport, the state's senior Democrat agreed that any tweaking or repealing of "stand your ground" laws should be done by the more than two dozen states that have adopted the law, and not the federal government. But when asked what Florida should do, Nelson backed off, saying "Look, I've got enough trouble to try to get things done in Washington. I'm not going to weigh in on the state legislature."
When asked his opinion about "stand your ground," Nelsons said there are "gradations" of the law.
"What about the guy who gets into a fight, he runs into his car, gets a pistol, and comes back and shoots somebody," Nelson rhetorically asked reporters. "Now that obviously should not apply, and yet there was a case and that was utilized ... in a stand your ground situation (he did not specify what case that was). Well, you should never employ it in that kind of circumstance, so you have to use some common sense in how it is applied and it ought to be narrowly defined. Because if there is an opportunity to turn on your heel and walk away so that people are not severely injured or killed, you ought to always exercise that type of judgment."
Since George Zimmerman was found not guilty, Stevie Wonder, Jesse Jackson, and members of the Congressional Black Caucus (to name a few) have asked that people boycott the Sunshine State.
Not surprisingly, Nelson said that shouldn't happen, questioning why the people of Florida should be punished when there is little dispute about the rule of law or the question of the jury verdict. He said the questions people need to ask are, "What about our relations with each other among the races? And is the way that a particular young person was followed, does this not teach us something about how we should treat each other?"
Sen. Nelson also slammed Gov. Rick Scott and the Secretary of State's office in Tallahassee for their decision to deny issuing permits needed to exhume human remains from an untold number of unmarked graves at the now-defunct Arthur G. Dozier School in Marianna, Fla.
"Why should the families not be allowed to have closure brought to their missing loved ones who disappeared at the old Marianna Boys School?" Nelson asked.
Officials with USF sent a letter to Secretary of State Ken Detzner, arguing that their department has the authority to excavate under Florida law because the remains are vulnerable.
"If we do this for our military service people, why can't we do this for the grieving families who have lost children at the old reform school up in the Panhandle? ... for the state to just dodge this issue hiding underneath the Department of State, it's a ridiculous argument," the senator charged, adding that USF's appeal "makes hash mincemeat out of the state of Florida's argument, and all it would take was the governor to say 'I want to help these families bring closure to their missing loved ones' and it would happen in a nanosecond."