ATLANTA (AP) -- A gun rights group wants to defend a federal challenge of Georgia's controversial self-defense law.

The group GeorgiaCarry.org filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit brought this month by civil rights activist Markel Hutchins that challenges Georgia's so-called stand your ground law. Hutchins says the lawsuit was filed in response to the death of Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old killed by a Florida man who said the shooting was in self-defense.

The gun rights group said its members rely on the law daily. It wants a ruling that finds the law constitutional.

Martin's death has ignited racial tensions and stoked debate about so-called stand your ground laws in Florida, Georgia and 19 other states. The laws give people wide latitude to use deadly force rather than retreat during a fight.