A bill passed by the Florida Senate last week clears up conflicting prior laws and reaffirms that citizens do not have a duty to retreat when attacked inside their homes, consistent with hundreds of years of common law in what is broadly known as castle doctrine.

A bill clarifying that homeowners need not wait to be attacked inside their dwellings before resorting to defensive force passed the Senate Thursday.

CS/CS/SB 1052 would reconcile conflicting statutes involving self-defense, correcting drafting errors muddying the legal situation made in 2014 legislation, bill sponsor David Simmons said.

“Senators, this protects all of us in our own home. It’s rational. It’s reasonable. It brings us back to the way it was prior to the mistakes that were made in 2014, drafting errors,” Simpson said.

The Senate defeated efforts by Democrat Jose Javier Rodriguez to clarify that force would have to be used against an aggressor.

He cited the 2012 Trayvon Martin case, in which George Zimmerman shot the teenager after following him through a neighborhood.

“You do have a duty to retreat if you provoke and you do not stand down,” Rodriquez said.

It probably shouldn’t be a surprise that pro-criminal Democrat Jose Javier Rodriguez both lied about the facts of the Trayvon Martin case and tried to protect the lives of home invaders over that of innocent homeowners.

Trayvon Martin came up behind George Zimmerman and then attacked him as Zimmerman was walking back to his truck in Sanford, Florida, in February of 2012.

Rodriguez wants homeowners to have to wait until they are under attack by home invaders before they can use lethal force, giving violent criminals a clear advantage over law-abiding citizens. That someone like Rodriguez can hold such clearly pro-criminal viewpoints and remain in office is highly disturbing.