Castle Doctrine Passes NC Senate

An article in Sunday's Goldsboro News and Record by Mark Binker entitled Legislators Seek Wider Protections for Self Defense highlights a bill we here in North Carolina have been seeking for several years. The bill is called "Castle Doctrine" and would provide protections from frivolous prosecution and from subsequent civil lawsuits if the reason a person used their weapon was self defense.  A Castle Doctrine bill was originally passed in the Senate, but then tied up in committee by Democrat Deborah Ross in the House.  There it languished.  With 2010 elections, the NC Legislature changed parties, and Grass Roots North Carolina (GRNC) has a real chance of getting Castle Doctrine, as well as Restraunt Carry passed in this State.

Self defense is strictly defined in North Carolina law. You must be in fear of your life, or great bodily harm or rape. Right now you have a duty to retreat if at all possible. In addition, there are some strange things about the home invasion. If you happen to catch the invader breaking in, you can use your weapon, assuming you satisfy the other conditions.  Essentially, you need to surprise him, and he raises a gun to shoot. But once he is in, you can not, and you can't use it if he is outside your home either. Now, I agree that as long as he is outside, and you are inside, you have the opportunity to call the police. It's the inside the home part that has always confused me. When going through NC law while taking my Concealed Handgun License, it was explained that the intruder might be your teenage son, coming home late from a party. I thought that argument was pretty weak, and still do. The law now presumes that anyone inside your home belongs there, whereas the presumption should be that anyone uninvited into your home is up to no good.

That is what the Castle Doctrine bill that has just passed the Senate would do. In addition, it would allow you to stand your ground if you have a legal right to be where you are. Note that it doesn't change things for people for whom a shooting was not in self defense. What it does do is provide:

Presumption of reasonable fear of imminent death or great bodily injury when an attacker makes an unlawful and forcible entry not only of a home, but also a motor vehicle and a workplace. Beyond including the carjacking protection long-sought by GRNC, this may be the first law in the country to include the workplace among protected areas.

as quoted from a Grass Roots North Carolina e-mail alert.

We still need to get the bill passed in the House, and signed into law by Democrat Governor Beverly Perdue, no friend to gun owners.  On the other hand, Perdue may decide not to pick a fight on this issue with a determined group.  Interestingly, Ms. Ross would have been better off with last year's bill, which was far weaker than this one.

At the Raleigh Gun Show Sunday, as we were talking up the Castle Doctrine, I made the point that under the current law, if you are forced to use deadly force to defend yourself, you will be revictimized possibly two more times.  The first will be when a zealous prosecutor takes you to trial anyway, and you must defend yourself again, and then in civil court.  It is deeply offensive to me that all this is done with the sanction of the State where I pay taxes.  Let us hope for a favorable outcome for this bill.

Update:  Brad O'Leary has an article today describing a recent poll taken on voter's attitudes toward gun control.  It can be found here on Townhall.com. The relevant quote:

A majority of voters nationwide (61%) also support changing the law in many states to allow people to use firearms inside and outside their homes in self-defense, without any stipulation that requires they first attempt to retreat from their attacker. In Red states, 62% of voters support such a change to the law, as do 64% of Green state voters and 53% of Blue state voters. A 46% plurality of voters who have never owned a firearm also support changing the law.

NC is a Green State for purposes of the poll. If Ms. Perdue is reading the tea leaves, perhaps we just might win this thing.