Attention Florida NRA Members: SB 436 and HB 249 Update!

Late Wednesday (3/23/05), the Florida Senate passed SB-436 by Senator Durell Peaden by a UNANIMOUS VOTE of 39-0. That bill now moves to the House.

HB-249 by Rep. Baxley passed the House Justice Council Committee yesterday morning by a vote of 8-2. VOTING FOR the House bill: Chairman Rep. Bruce Kyle, V-Chair Rep. Carl Domino, and Reps. Faye Culp, Dick Kravitz, Marcelo Llorente, Mark Mahon, John Quinones, and David Simmons. VOTING AGAINST: Arthenia Joyner, Irving Slosberg (these are the ONLY votes against the bill in the entire process so far).

The House bill is now ready to go the House Floor. MORE LATER

Below is a list of the email addresses for Florida Senators if you would like to THANK them for their Floor votes on SB-436.

IN THE SUBJECT LINE OF YOUR EMAIL PUT:

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING SB-436, Castle Doctrine

To email these members all at once copy and paste the list below in your email client`s "To" field:

BACKGROUND:

SB-436 corrects a serious problem for citizens who chose to protect themselves in the face of attack by violent criminals.

This bill REMOVES the "duty to retreat" in the face of attack; it creates the presumption that an attacker or intruder intends to do great bodily harm and therefore force, including deadly force, may be used to protect yourself, your family and others in the face of attack; it prohibits prosecution for defending that which you have a right to defend and prohibits civil lawsuits by criminals or relatives of criminals when criminals are injured or killed while attacking law-abiding people.

The Courts in Florida have clearly eroded the rights of law-abiding citizens by imposing a "duty to retreat" (leave your property and RUN) when attacked.

Law-abiding citizens should not be victimized by the state/courts for failing to retreat (RUN) from their own property or any place they have a right to be in the face of attack by an unlawful intruder. Nor should they be victimized for using deadly force against a perpetrator who unlawfully intrudes -- regardless of whether the victim knows what kind of force the perpetrator intends to use.

Any victim should be able to presume that an unlawful intruder is there for the purpose of doing great bodily, and subsequently places the victim and the victim`s family in great imminent peril.

The Castle Doctrine is an ancient common law doctrine with origins going back at least to Roman law that provides that a man`s home is his castle and, hence he may use all manner of force including deadly force to protect it and its inhabitants from attack.

The Florida Constitution Article I, Section 2 guarantees basic rights to all natural persons including the right to defend life and protect property.

The citizens of Florida have a right to expect absolute safety within their own homes or vehicles and to be able to use all manner of force against and unlawful intruder/attacker.