Stand Your Ground isn’t the law in every state, which isn’t surprising. After all, some states have a political leaning that tries to argue that such laws are really legalized murder (spoiler: They ain’t). However, there was one surprising state that lacked any such law and that was North Dakota.

Maybe they just lagged behind because case law said essentially the same thing. That’s the case in a lot of states, including California, apparently.

The problem is that case law can be overturned.

Now, they’ve fixed that oversight, and the new law goes into effect soon.

A slew of new state laws taking effect next month means North Dakota will have a lower bar for using deadly force, a ban on mask mandates ordered by the executive branch and expanded Sunday business hours for liquor stores.

The Republican-held Legislature passed more than 500 bills during its biennial session earlier this year, and many will officially go into the law books on Sunday, Aug. 1.

North Dakota will join at least 25 other states in having a so-called “stand-your-ground” law, which expands the existing “castle” law that permits the use of deadly force at one’s home or workplace but requires an effort to escape the attacker in public places unless one’s life is in danger. The new law eliminates the “duty to retreat” and allows the use of deadly force to prevent a violent felony in public or any other place a person is legally permitted to be. The legislation doesn’t cover people who provoke violence.

Supporters of the bill, a favorite of gun rights advocacy groups like the National Rifle Association, said it promotes victims’ rights to protect themselves from attackers and violent criminals in public. Opponents argued it opens the door to false claims of self-defense by bad actors who were never in danger of serious harm and could negatively impact people of color.

Seriously, how did North Dakota of all places wait this long for a Stand Your Ground law?

Regardless, they’ve got one now, and it’s about time.

With it going into effect on August 1, residents there will become that much safer. They won’t have to wonder whether they’ll end up being prosecuted for exercising their basic human right of self-defense because a prosecutor decided they could have run away through a path the person in question didn’t even know was there.

It shouldn’t be an issue, but now it won’t be.

For those who claim this is legalized murder, though, they seem to ignore that the law only applies to cases where one has a legitimate reason to believe their life is in danger. You can’t just claim you were scared and then shoot someone. There have to be grounds for it. Some kind of threat has to exist.

Of course, those who make that claim are either too stupid to understand or too dishonest to actually admit it. I won’t make a claim as to who is which, but it’s one of those two and we all know it.