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An at­tor­ney and a for­mer se­nior po­lice of­fi­cer are dis­miss­ing claims that the pro­posed stand-your-ground leg­is­la­tion may en­cour­age one race of peo­ple to harm an­oth­er. They are al­so ad­vis­ing cit­i­zens that if they do not have a le­gal firearm, a cut­lass, hot oil, or a crick­et bat can al­so be used as a means to de­fend them­selves and their fam­i­lies.

Speak­ing af­ter a pub­lic con­sul­ta­tion on the is­sue at the Three Roads Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tre in Freeport on Tues­day evening, at­tor­ney Nyree Al­fon­so said claims about race were a “red her­ring” in­tro­duced by op­po­nents of the bill.

She called on cit­i­zens to fo­cus on the pro­tec­tion be­ing of­fered and not on racial is­sues.