“Shoot first” or “stand your ground” laws were meant to protect us. But research cited in a new report from Everytown for Gun Safety indicates these laws increase homicides and other violent crimes, especially in the South, and consistently fail to protect vulnerable people.
Florida enacted the first modern Shoot First law in 2005, allowing a person to use deadly force in self-defense in public, even if they could safely walk away from the threat. The law was designed to make people safer on the theory that perpetrators would not commit violent crimes if they thought their victims could be armed.
Since then, dozens of states have followed suit, including Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming, as of April 2025, according to Everytown.
Data reported by Everytown shows these laws have failed to protect victims. None of the Shoot First states has seen significant reductions in violent deaths.
Instead, the nonpartisan RAND Corporation found that Shoot First laws have led to an increase in homicides and other violent crimes, like robbery, rape, and aggravated assault.
Threat to Public Safety
Shoot First laws are not protective—they’re dangerous, Everytown reports, leading to “more guns in public and more violence in communities.” Rather than protect public safety, these laws have been found to increase violence and unnecessary deaths.
Research published in the peer-reviewed medical journal JAMA Network in 2022 found that Shoot First laws were associated with a mean national increase of 7.8% in monthly homicide rates and 8.0% in monthly firearm homicide rates.
In states that adopted these laws, gun homicide rates rose by 10.8%.
That amounts to more than 700 additional gun deaths every year, Everytown reports.
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Missouri saw even higher increases, from 16.2% to 33.5%.
Adolescents experience higher rates of gun homicide under Shoot First laws, which are also linked to more unintentional shootings among youth, according to Everytown’s report.
These laws also jeopardize public safety by shielding people with histories of violence, Everytown explains. The report cites a review of Florida cases that found that roughly three out of five people claiming a “stand your ground” defense for killing someone in that state had prior arrests, and about a third of those were for violent crimes like assault and robbery.
David LaBahn, president of the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee that Shoot First laws “provide safe harbors for criminals and prevent prosecutors from bringing cases against those who claim self-defense after unnecessarily killing or injuring others.”
Deadly Discrimination
Shoot First laws have proved deadly for people of color, especially young Black men, who are seen as inherently or presumptively threatening based on their race.
Based on FBI data from 2019 to 2023, Everytown found that in Shoot First states, homicides in which white shooters kill Black victims are deemed justifiable four times as often as when the situation is reversed.
Some states had even greater disparities—8.5 times in Louisiana, 10.3 times in Indiana, and, in Michigan, 12.4 times.
With research showing a 55% increase in justifiable homicide rates in Shoot First states, Everytown concludes, “Shoot First laws embolden people to act on racial bias without facing consequences.”
Shoot First laws are also often skewed against women, the report explains, and have failed to protect victims of domestic violence.
Everytown cites research showing that women who claimed self-defense in domestic violence cases were more likely to be convicted and received longer sentences.
A Costly Failure
A single gun homicide costs about $15 million in police response, criminal justice, and health care, as well as lost income and quality of life for the victim’s family, according to Everytown.
The 700 gun homicides every year attributable to Shoot First laws cost nearly $11 billion, the report finds, including $500 million in direct taxpayer expenses tied to law enforcement, courts, and medical care.
Because Shoot First laws also lead to increases in nonfatal injuries, which increases emergency room and hospital visits, the financial cost is even higher, the report says.
Lawmakers in several states are debating whether to expand or revoke Shoot First laws, Alabama Reflector reports. Everytown’s senior vice president of law and policy, Nick Suplina, urged them to reject these failed policies.
“Shoot First laws do nothing to protect our communities from violence,” he said in a statement.