From time to time I like to go the Library of Congress web site http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas.html and check out some of the proposed legislation in Congress. The other day I found this little bill on their spot. It's called H.R.17 and it deals with self protection in one's own home.Here in Missouri we have a law referred to as the Castle law. What this law does is allow a homeowner to use deadly force against anyone who breaks into their house and is threatening their family.
I see H.R 17 as a National version of Missouri's Castle Law. If enacted this law would "protect the right to obtain firearms for security, and to use firearms in defense of self, family, or home, and to provide for the enforcement of such right".
When a similar law was passed in Missouri I was taken by supprise. I thought I already had the right to use a gun to protect my home and family. But in truth if the situation had arose I might well have been charged with a crime.
This is a problem nationwide. Honest citizens trying to protect what is theirs are routinely subjected to criminal prosecution. Just take a look at this quote from H.R 17
"Ronald Biggs, a resident of Goldsboro, North Carolina, was arrested for shooting an intruder in 1990. Four men broke into Biggs' residence one night, ransacked the home and then assaulted him with a baseball bat. When Biggs attempted to escape through the back door, the group chased him and Biggs turned and shot one of the assailants in the stomach. Biggs was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon--a felony. His assailants were charged with misdemeanors."
This sort of thing is outrageous, but wait, it doesn't stop there...
"Don Campbell of Port Huron, Michigan, was arrested, jailed, and criminally charged after he shot a criminal assailant in 1991. The thief had broken into Campbell's store and attacked him. The prosecutor plea-bargained with the assailant and planned to use him to testify against Campbell for felonious use of a firearm. Only after intense community pressure did the prosecutor finally drop the charges".
The prosecutor was actually going to use the CRIMINAL to testify against the VICTIM!
I practically choked when I first read that one. Folks this is the state of our country. Victims are charged with crimes while the perpetrators go free, get reduced sentences, or even win awards in law suits.
This is America today folks. As they say you can't make this stuff up. 60, 75 ,100 years ago this wouldn't have even been needed but not today. All I can do is shake my head when I think about it. Here is some real. practical , legislation, that is badly needed in an age when not an hour goes by that there is not a home invasion, burglary, or rape in a citizens home.
In the meantime all the Democrats in Congress can think of is TAX TAX TAX and GUN CONTROL. Time for people to demand legislation like this be moved forward and passed into law.
A gun toting Freedomlover.
