by Steve Timmer

Aug 3, 2012, 8:00 AM

I was rilly skeerd

Here’s a heart warming story of a Florida man who successfully defended himself against a frozen meat salesman:

Excellent, now even the “neighborhood crazies” have learned the Get Out of Jail Free code word for Stand Your Ground:“I was in fear.” Unfortunately for “neighborhood crazy” Kenneth Roop, there was a witness who saw him gun down a door-to-door salesman who had knocked on the door, found no one home, and was walking back down the driveway when Roop pulled up, asked him what he was doing there (selling frozen seafood and steaks) and then shot him. Oh, and as the salesman lay dying, he shot him again, in the back of the head. Good job, FLORIDA.

According to the police report, after Roop shot the man, and as he lay wounded on the lawn, he said “You shot me,” in a threatening voice (according to Roop), so Roop put another round in the base of his skull.

This after Roop was acquitted for chasing off a meter reader with his gun several years ago.

But Kenneth knows the drill, and by golly it often works:

A Tampa Bay Times analysis of stand your ground cases found that it has been people like Moorer — those with records of crime and violence — who have benefited most from the controversial legislation. A review of arrest records for those involved in more than 100 fatal stand your ground cases shows:

• Nearly 60 percent of those who claimed self-defense had been arrested at least once before the day they killed someone.

• More than 30 of those defendants, about one in three, had been accused of violent crimes, including assault, battery or robbery. Dozens had drug offenses on their records.

• Killers have invoked stand your ground even after repeated run-ins with the law. Forty percent had three arrests or more. Dozens had at least four arrests.

• More than a third of the defendants had previously been in trouble for threatening someone with a gun or illegally carrying a weapon.

• In dozens of cases, both the defendant and the victim had criminal records, sometimes related to long-running feuds or criminal enterprises. Of the victims that could be identified in state records, 64 percent had at least one arrest. Several had 20 or more arrests.

Florida’s stand your ground law has been under intense scrutiny since George Zimmerman claimed self-defense after killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin at a Sanford apartment complex Feb. 26. Police and prosecutors said they did not immediately charge Zimmerman because they could not disprove his self-defense claim.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, a clear majority of people who invoke Shoot First walk.

So, once again, thanks, Governor Dayton for your veto of Shoot First. Meter readers, mail carriers, Trick or Treaters, politicians canvassing their districts, and door-to-door salespeople thank you.