Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday criticized “Stand Your Ground” laws, telling the nation’s largest civil rights group — just miles from where Florida teenager Trayvon Martin was killed — that such statutes encourage public violence.

“By allowing and perhaps encouraging violent situations to escalate in public, such laws undermine public safety,” Holder told a NAACP conference in Orlando. “The list of resulting tragedies is long and unfortunately has victimized too many who are innocent. It is our collective obligation – we must stand our ground – to ensure that our laws reduce violence, and take a hard look at laws that contribute to more violence than they prevent.”