Arkansas lawmaker Stephanie Flowers gives emotional speech over gun laws

Arkansas state Sen. Stephanie Flowers didn’t hold back when debating a “stand your ground” bill and her unfiltered, profanity-laced pleas quickly went viral.

Flowers, a Democrat, railed against the proposition in an emotional plea that laid out how similar self-defense laws across the U.S. had affected people of color and at one point, walked out of a committee hearing. Her comments spread like wildfire on social media on Friday, with many liberals and gun-control advocates applauding her courage and dubbing her a hero.

“This is crazy! You don’t have to worry about your children!” Flowers said during a hearing this week. “I worry about my son and I worry about other little black boys and girls and people coming into my neighborhood, into my city, saying they have open carry rights.”

Stand your ground laws and others similar to have allowed people to defend themselves if they feel threatened, without being forced to retreat. The laws, which have been controversial for years and used as a defense in a number of high-profile homicides, make it legal for a person to remain where they are, as long as they have a legal right to be there, and use any level of force, including deadly force, if they believe they face a threat of serious harm or death.

The only black legislator on the state Judiciary Committee, Flowers raised her voice during the debate in a plea to ask the other lawmakers examining the proposition to extend the debate, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

“I am the only person here of color, OK. And I am a mother, too,” she said. “I care as much for my son as y’all care for y’alls, but my son doesn’t walk the same path as yours does.”

At one point, Republican state Sen. Alan Clark, who chairs the committee, tried to halt Flowers’ emotional speech, telling her in a low voice, “Senator, you need to stop.”

“No, I don’t. What the hell are you going to do? Shoot me?” she said. He tried again, saying “Senator…” but Flowers interjected, “Senator, sh-t. Go to hell.”

Flowers then continued to rant against conservative-led bills that cater to the National Rifle Association. “I’m talking about my son’s life. And I’m talking about the life of other black kids,” she added.

“Do what the hell you wanna do, go ahead. But you can’t silence me,” Flowers said. “You are not going to silence me.”

Flowers said black people, like all people of different cultures, have a different way of expressing themselves that often feel threatening to some and this law could open the door to an increase in slayings.

Flowers cited the case of Trayvon Martin, a black unarmed teenager who was shot and killed in Florida in 2012 by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman.

Zimmerman used Florida’s “stand your ground” law as a defense and was found not guilty. The case helped start what would become the Black Lives Matter movement.

‘Stand your ground’ laws have been enacted in more than half of states across the U.S. A 2017 study examining the effects of the law in Florida found a surge in homicides after it went into effect in 2005. For years, experts have said the laws disproportionately affect people of color.

After Flowers’ emotional plea, the committee voted down the measure 4 to 3 on Thursday, the Democrat-Gazette reported.