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Title: Texas signs new self-defense by gun law
Source:
Reuters
URL Source: http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USN2721289620070327
Published: Mar 29, 2007
Author: Ed Stoddard
Post Date: 2007-03-29 07:55:48 by Eoghan
Keywords: None
Views: 136
Comments: 9
Criminals in Texas beware: if you threaten someone in their car or office, the citizens of this state where guns are ubiquitous have the right to shoot you dead. Governor Rick Perry's office said on Tuesday that he had signed a new law that expands Texans' existing right to use deadly force to defend themselves "without retreat" in their homes, cars and workplaces. "The right to defend oneself from an imminent act of harm should not only be clearly defined in Texas law, but is intuitive to human nature," Perry said on his Web site. The new law, which takes affect on September 1, extends an exception to a statute that required a person to retreat in the face of a criminal attack. The exception was in the case of an intruder unlawfully entering a person's home. The law extends a person's right to stand their ground beyond the home to vehicles and workplaces, allowing the reasonable use of deadly force, the governor's office said. The reasonable use of lethal force will be allowed if an intruder is: - Committing certain violent crimes, such as murder or sexual assault, or is attempting to commit such crimes - Unlawfully trying to enter a protected place - Unlawfully trying to remove a person from a protected place. The law also provides civil immunity for a person who lawfully slays an intruder or attacker in such situations. Texas joins several other states including Florida that have or are considering similar laws. Sympathy for violent offenders and criminals in general runs low in Texas, underscored by its busy death row. The state leads the United States in executions with 388 since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 by the U.S. Supreme Court. A conservative political outlook and widespread fondness for hunting also means Texans are a well-armed people capable of defending themselves with deadly force. It is easy to acquire guns over the counter in Texas and lawful to carry a concealed handgun with a permit.
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#1. To: Eoghan (#0)
It never made any sense that you had to retreat. Violent criminals are closer to animals that humans, and when you retreat from an aggressive animal it just encourages them to attacks. Same with violent criminals.
"Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence." - Napoleon Bonaparte.
Castle Doctrine Bump
that would also include out of control criminal LEOs, i assume.
I don't own a gun so I'm ignorant of gun laws generally speaking but I have friends who own guns - I assumed for protection - but if only a few states ( like Texas)allow a homeowner to use lethal force for protection, what's the point of owning a gun if you'll end up getting sued by the intruder's family? Do other states only allow homeowners to use non-lethal force - like shooting an intruder in the leg - to slow them up until police arrive?
Back in high school in L.A. a teacher taught us to be sure to put one of the criminal's feet inside the door. I think he was serious.
"The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes nor between parties either — but right through the human heart." — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
There's different guidelines that vary according to state. I'm quoting from memory so I may be wrong, but in general, in most states, unless you can demonstrate that you had fear for your life, and the intruder had the ability to act upon that, you cannot simply kill an intruder in your home (i.e. don't kill an unarmed intruder). I can agree that my television isn't worth killing someone over, but the intruder should think about that before they broke in and I hit them with 00 buckshot from a 12 gauge. In many states, they don't want you to defend your property at all, and if there is a path for egress from your own home, they expect you to use it, rather than confront an intruder (which is absurd, but idiots and people who like to be victims make the laws, I guess). If the intruder is in the process of leaving and you blast them, you're going to jail, too. There is much more latitude with women in this regard; I can't think of anything recent where a woman has been prosecuted for using too much force on an intruder. I think the idea is that if you're a man and you see an unarmed intruder in your home, you're to commence to asswhupping rather than kill them outright. It's understood that most women don't have that option, so it's much easier to believe that a woman feared for her life and had to resort to deadly force. In general, burglars don't want you to be home, and usually won't try to harm occupants (they're looking to escape when discovered, they're usually not murderers) so if there is a pump shotgun in the house, racking the slide (no one mistakes that noise for anything than what it is-impending doom) will usually suffice to get them to leave. Then all you've got to do is clean up their waste products after they soiled themselves from fear of being killed.
Rivers of blood were spilled out over land that, in normal times, not even the poorest Arab would have worried his head over." Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
You should at least own one, whether or not you ever plan to use it for anything. I'd suggest at least two though. A shotgun and a decent rifle in a common caliber. Well actually 3 would be best. The two above and a sport utility rifle, like and AR15 or AK47. And don't forget to learn to handle them safely and get a bunch of ammo for each. You can lock them away in a closet or something, and forget you have them. But when the day comes when you need one in order to eat, or to defend your home during a real bad social event, you won't be utterly lost.
#2. To: Eoghan. GOA (#0)
#3. To: Eoghan (#0)
Criminals in Texas beware
#4. To: Eoghan (#0)
The law extends a person's right to stand their ground beyond the home to vehicles and workplaces, allowing the reasonable use of deadly force, the governor's office said.
#5. To: scrapper2 (#4)
#6. To: scrapper2 (#4)
#7. To: scrapper2 (#4)
I don't own a gun
A new truth movement friendly digg type site: Zlonk it!
#8. To: Critter (#7)
Probably AR15, even though they're much more expensive than AK47 since if the weapon's being used against the State gone wild you can use captured ammo? I like the idea of having an AK47, though, because of the reliability and the low maintenance needed to keep the weapon functional. I've got a Mosin Nagant M44 that I'm excessively fond of, but ammo's getting a little more scarce for it; at least it's got a permanent bayonet. I'm thinking about picking up something chambered in 7.62 NATO since ammo's much more common for that.
Rivers of blood were spilled out over land that, in normal times, not even the poorest Arab would have worried his head over." Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
#9. To: christine, jethro tull (#3) (Edited)
I think those SS troops, as government employees, may already be exempt since they slaughter so indiscriminantly. They don't seem to fear anything...except an armed citizen. I never thought I'd see the day when, as an ex-cop, I would hold police in total contempt as murderers, lairs and report/crime scene falsifiers. "We're from the government and we're here to help you" [NOT!] has been drilled into both my kid's heads for many years. Heaven help the poor soul who drops a criminal while in their car and the poor citizen has no permission license from TheStateInc
that would also include out of control criminal LEOs, i assume.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
"If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may know peace." -Thomas Paine
In a CorporoFascist capitalist society, there is no money in peace, freedom, or a healthy population, and therefore, no incentive to achieve these.
- - IndieTX
- - IndieTX
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