LANSING, MI -- A group of two dozen activists rallied at the state Capitol on Tuesday, promising to launch a ballot campaign to repeal Michigan's "stand your ground" law if lawmakers fail to update it.

The Rev. Charles Williams II, Detroit head of the National Action Network, said that the group supports 2nd amendment and self-defense rights but believes Michigan's law goes too far and does not encourage residents to "choose peace" when the option is available.

"We're going to go to every community across the state of Michigan and we're going to get 'stand your ground' repealed right here in Michigan," said Williams. "Michigan will be the first state that will get rid of this ugly law that allows people to go around shooting each other. This is not the wild wild west."

The Michigan Self-Defense Act, approved with bipartisan support in 2006, provides legal protection to people who use deadly force when they "honestly and reasonably" believe they or another person are being threatened with death, severe injury or rape. There's no legal duty to retreat in those circumstances -- at home or out in public.

Tuesday's rally came on the heals of a similar but larger event in Florida, where the parents of Trayvon Martin joined a protest against that state's "stand your ground" law. Neighborhood watch member George Zimmerman shot the unarmed teen during an altercation in 2012 but was acquitted at trial.

Williams also referenced Renisha McBride, an unarmed 19-year-old from Detroit who was shot and killed through a locked screen door by a Dearborn Heights homeowner. Theodore Wafer, set to go to trial in June, is arguing innocence under the Michigan self-defense law, but it is not necessarily a "stand your ground" case.

Planning for a statewide ballot proposal, which would require significant organization and money, appears to be in its infancy. Williams said that NAN attorneys are "pulling the paperwork" and preparing petition language.

State Sen. Rick Jones, who helped author the self-defense law as a state representative, said the Michigan statute is different than Florida's. The law doesn't give anyone free license to shoot, Jones said, it simply provides a "rebuttable presumption" of self-defense that prosecutors must overcome when pressing criminal charges.

"You really have to prove, in Michigan, that you're about to die or be raped," Jones said. "I understand why they're very upset with what happened to Trayvon Martin. I don't believe that was appropriate, but it doesn't have anything to do with Michigan law."

Jonathan Oosting is a Capitol reporter for MLive Media Group. Email him, find him on Google+ or follow him on Twitter.