Posted on 03/28/2007 8:06:41 AM PDT by Princip. Conservative
AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry signed into law Tuesday a bill that gives Texans a stronger legal right to defend themselves with deadly force in their homes, cars and workplaces.
Both chambers of the Legislature overwhelmingly approved the measure earlier this month. The bill, backed by the National Rifle Association, states that a person has no duty to retreat from an intruder before using deadly force.
"The right to defend oneself from an imminent act of harm should not only be clearly defined in Texas law, but it is intuitive to human nature. You ought to be able to protect yourself," Perry said, surrounded by lawmakers who pushed for the law.
This is the first bill-signing this legislative session by the Republican governor. The law takes effect Sept. 1.
"This is reasonable legislation," Perry said.
The building or vehicle must be occupied at the time for the deadly force provision to apply, and the person using force cannot provoke the attacker or be involved in criminal activity at the time.
Some refer to the measure as the "castle doctrine," drawing from the idea that a man's home is his castle and that he should have the right to defend it.
Fifteen other states have passed similar laws. Texas is the first state to pass such a law this year, said Rep. Joe Driver, a Garland Republican who sponsored the measure.
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
As Governor Perry said, this seems like reasonable legislation.
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It is called the "Kick Me Doctrine."
Criminals can do anything and everything they want to the law abiding.
The taxpayers can do nothing without clearing piles of paperwork and background checks from the state.
Oh, and then your property taxes go up another 25% - just because it is another year.
If New Orlean thugs migrate to Texas again due to another hurricane they should be very careful how they act.
As well as any other criminal on any other day.
Good job Perry.
I heard CBS reporting this as 'Texans now have the right to use deadly force to protect their homes.' We've always had that. This bill just clarified things.
Sometimes that is true. W have a lot of RINOs in office though, and Perry (Gov. GoodHair) is one of them. There is no democrat that holds a statewide elective office in this state that I'm aware of, so anyone wanting to advance in politics "sees the light" and puts an "R" by their name (see aformentioned RINO Perry).
He saw the writing on the wall about this one, so he signed it. The Texas legislooters also recently passed a law clarifying travelling whilst armed. Pretty good legislation, generally, in that the default position is now that weapons in your car are legal unless you are in the process of committing a crime, or are "prohibited" from posessing same.
Add that to the expansion of the Castle Doctrine, and I'm pretty pleased about it. Now, if we can get Vermont Carry in place, I'll be happy as a clam, and won't say anything bad about Gov. Goodhair and his foreign cronys for 24 hours.
"The Texas legislooters also recently passed a law clarifying travelling whilst armed. Pretty good legislation, generally, in that the default position is now that weapons in your car are legal unless you are in the process of committing a crime, or are "prohibited" from posessing same. "
True, however you ought to access the Texas State Rifle Assoc. website www.tsra.com to understand out latest battle with a number of DAs across the state not complying with the new law. They are advising LEOs to keep enforcing the old (unenforceable) law which has hurt lots of citizens. TSRA says it more concisely and clearly. Outrage.
Maybe, next we can get him to focus on closing the border.
Thanks. That's what I love about our government. Consequences only matter for us. When the government breaks the law, they just shrug it off.
"Add that to the expansion of the Castle Doctrine, and I'm pretty pleased about it. Now, if we can get Vermont Carry in place, I'll be happy as a clam, and won't say anything bad about Gov. Goodhair and his foreign cronys for 24 hours."
I guess I find it a little difficult to understand exactly why guys like Governor Perry take so much heat as a 'RINO'. I'm sure he's not quite a Jesse Helms type of conservative, but I took note of the active part he took in getting the constitutional amendment banning gay marriages and civil unions in 2005 - even signing it when he didn't have to. That wasn't a very RINO thing to do. As I understand it, he's always supported pro-life legislation.
Could you fill me in on how he's a RINO?
latest battle with a number of DAs across the state not complying with the new law
You're referring to HB823 from 2 years ago. That never made carrying a handgun in your vehicle legal if you were not traveling, it just made the presumption of travel the default. A prosecutor could still introduce evidence to show that you were not traveling and charge you with illegally carrying a handgun in your car.
I believe Zeugma was referring to this session's HB1815 which was in response to what you mentioned. HB1815 goes into effect on 9/1 and makes it totally legal to carry a concealed handgun in a car unless you're committing a crime above a class c traffic misdemeanor or otherwise are not allowed to own a gun. here's the link.
What I said was correct but I want to make sure that you realized that this particular new law that I was referring to was dealing with carrying a handgun in your personal vehicle.
For over a hundred years, Texas had an impossible to interpret law concerning the definition of "traveling". Dozens of courts through the decades made dozens of definitions, all different! Unenforceable, therefore the police would virtually make their own definition of "traveling" up and many folks were wrongly charged with possession of prohibited weapon.
Now that a common-sense definition of "traveling" has been defined, oh no, our renegade DAs and their ilk are continuing with the "old way". What a mess.
The Castle doctrine is great, a step in the right direction, I'll have to read it closely becaused I noticed the words "vehicle" and "home", that means something to me, as it should to all Texans.
Yes, I agree with your assessment. In our County Court at Law I witnessed a case which would have tested the new law based on the "presumption" of traveling. Unfortunately, it won't be a real good test case; the young man in possession of a prohibited weapon (to wit: handgun in a vehicle basically) was under the legal age to have a handgun in his possession anyway. Sheesh, thus the waters are still muddy.
The defense made an excellent case based on the presumption of traveling (HB 823) and since this is a Court of Record, at least his argument will go down in case law. I believe the case has been scheduled for a later trial date as this was only the pre-trial hearing.
Move to South Mississippi! For what you sell your house in New Jersey (even if it's small) you can build or buy a mansion in comparison. People over 60 years old don't pay property taxes, and there are jobs galore...
Yea, but who wants to live in Mississipi, (or so says Charlie Rangel :))? Having the Castle Doctrine law is a great advance for freedom in the State of Texas. While yes this just clarifies already existing law the main benefit of this law is that it will get rid of all the BS civil lawsuits that criminal's families have tossed on to us citizens that have had to defend our lives, loved ones and property.
You nailed that one, it's clear you have an excellent understanding of this blasted conundrum we have allowed to continue for over 100 yrs. I dealt with it for over 30 yrs in LE, although I didn't consider traveling, forget that mess, I enforced the strongest case if there was a violation. I did NOT use "broken taillight" as probable cause to search a vehicle, that is an outrage. These days, on the least infraction, the officers are apparently trained or coached to ask, "Got any weapons, drugs, anthing like that?" then that leads to an abuse of the 4th Amendment actually and goes far beyond that.
The county court at law judge was asking the defense, "You mean over 100 years of case law on traveling are now null and void?", to which the defense said, "Yes, just as other laws are repealed and no longer valid, so is this". The judge went on to ask that under the presumption of traveling, he could go to Wal-Mart with his handgun and the defense said as long as he had not violated the other five elements of the law, it must be presumed that he was traveling, no wiggle room. I loved it. The defense also stated that over 100 yrs of bad case law based on bad law is STILL bad law. What a hoot.
As I recall, the Supreme Court upheld slavery, right? Bad law is bad law. And you are right about the unholy alliance with the ACLU, now THAT'S something to beware of!
Ah, our Texas...gotta love it. Many folks think we're somewhat in the Wild West but in actuality, we're over regulated and never have had a comfortable carry law or self-defense law, and that's been intentional, I'm convinced.
I live in Texas and like Gov. Perry as well. His Inauguration Ball in Austin in Jan 2007 with Ted Nugent playing was a real hoot. Never see that in a steeenkin' blue state . . .
I love living in Texas! See tagline to understand, Kings have Castles! I'm King in my house...
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