Understanding Stand Your Ground Laws in Virginia

The Denville Baseball philosophy revolves around sportsmanship and the community. We are both a team and a community, with our players, coaches, parents, and volunteers checked by an unyielding drive towards fairness – and that is what makes us successful both on and off the field.

Stand Your Ground laws, often abbreviated as SYG laws, are not all that different. To take Virginia as an example (plotting out SYG statutes, presumptions and related articles under Virginia code titles 18.2 and 19.2), growth of a Stand Your Ground law reflects the growth of a community-based safety ethos where self-defense is concerned. In fact, you can think of your own baseball experience (be it with Denville or elsewhere) in much the same way you would approach a self-defense scenario. No matter what you may start to do or the heights of feelings/emotions you may have, you must play as a team. Team-first. Team-first. Team-first.

No exceptions. Until spring training, you may be experiencing – and perhaps even cherishing – pre-season excitement, but at the end of the day, and every day for that matter, you are you and your teammates are you. The game continues whether you feel like it or not. So, neighborhoods work much the same way. When a threat rises, be it from without or within, you must remain cool and otherwise call on your instincts to help yourself, your family or others. But how can you use such an analogy in a Stand Your Ground context?

The answer here has to do with strategy – an important team-first ideal. At the plate, you know your inner strengths and limitations, as do your coaches, and the same is true for those who follow self-defense laws. You need not swing at every pitch, nor should you attempt to deliver a textbook baseball swing each time. By the same token, you need to try and gauge your environments to better decide whether to act based on an oncoming pitch. In this way, Stand Your Ground laws are also strategic. The law dictates that if you believe yourself to be in danger you may act based upon your own opinions, experiences, and prior training to resolve the conflict before receiving a legal sanction for doing so.

Unfortunately, SYG laws seem to have gotten a bad wrap. Richmond Times-Dispatch Senior Staff Writer Mark Bowes, in his article “Virginia Judge Unimpressed by Stand Your Ground Defense” found in the D. Daily Press library, puts the prospects of such legal arguments into context. Forensics experts or not, it was ruled by the judge that a SYG defense would not be presented in a Danville, Virginia jury trial last April. The case concerned a verbal confrontation that escalated into violence and while many of the eyewitness versions of events conflicted as to the events leading up to the defendant’s attack, there was little debate that the form of self-defense employed by the defendant was not one that proved essential or ideal for the purposes of the defense. Ultimately, the defendant had attacked his adversary. In the world of youth baseball, it’s not – and shouldn’t be – all about the pitcher.

Why, however, does the article hold such a prominent place in this debate? Because judges often rely on the decisions of those who came before them to guide their view of the present. At all times, judges must be able to view evidence based upon relevant statutes and pertinent opinions. This is where the duties of such legal professionals meet the duties of a Denville Baseball player.

We are also fortunate to live within a world of rules and regulations that govern nearly every facet of our lives. This includes the lives of Denville Baseball players who wake up every day and train to do their best and remain as competitive as possible. Our coaches prepare us for the game ahead, teaching us through practice and situational training how to be a better individual player while acting on behalf of the team. It is in this spirit that we can also act on behalf of our communities based on contextual situational training.

Sports and community are about creating an environment where hard work and excellence reign supreme and where members support one another to create the best possible outcome regardless of individual performance. In this sense, the analogy between baseball and the concept of Stand Your Ground laws remains strong. There is an alignment throughout the proverbial rulebook and the decisions rendered on field and in court.

No matter how you look at it, comprehensive Stand Your Ground laws in Virginia have the potential to aid in the preservation of healthy communities, and this is something you should impart to your children. SYG laws require – or at least presume – a degree of discipline that is also found in the ranks of youth sports. You and your family are now armed with a valuable lesson in fields spanning outside the diamond.