You can run but you can’t hide.
Not anymore?
In Texas, we currently have a penal law which has a “duty to retreat” clause. This law states that if someone breaks into your home, business, or vehicle, you must make every effort to retreat from danger before you can use deadly force.
The real bonus of this law is that if an intruder is injured, then the intruder can sue the homeowner for using deadly force.
So let me get this straight, we (as in us Texans who believe that gun control is putting the safety on, and most of us own at least one gun) MUST run away and not toward, when some punk is trying to “jack” our stuff. Then if we fight back with the necessary means to disable the intruder WE can be sued. Huh??
I’m not sure how this law was passed in Texas. Since 1976, when the death penalty was reinstated in the United States, Texas has led the pack in the number executions. The state has already executed four people this year, bringing the total to 383 since 1982. But we have a law stating that we can’t defend our property or ourselves, and if we do we can be criminally prosecuted and face a civil suit for a wrongful injury or death – by the intruder (and/or their family) no less!!
Well, have no fear. State Senator Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, recently filed a bill that would make this running away business a thing of the past.
Sen. Wentworth’s press release stated that if passed, the “Castle Doctrine” bill would update the current law “so that someone is presumed to have acted reasonable in using any manner of force, including deadly force, against someone who unlawfully enters or intrudes into a home, occupied vehicle or place of business or employment.”
Senator Wentworth also stated “I believe Texans who are attacked in their homes, their businesses, their vehicles or anywhere else they should have the right to defend themselves from attack without fear of being prosecuted criminally, and if unsuccessfully sued in civil court by the attacker, all costs at court will be paid by the attacker.”
Two women, Susan Buxton and Deanna Eggleston, have testified on behalf of the bill. Both women shot an intruder when their homes were burglarized.
Senator Wentworth’s bill has a good chance of making it to law with the support of 27 co-sponsors. Any bill that is signed by 28 senators almost assures that it will be favorably considered by the Senate.
So don’t hold your breath and don’t sit on your thumbs. Call, write, e-mail, do something, and just make sure to contact your representative and let them know of your support for Senator Wentworth’s “Castle Doctrine” bill.