Your Liberties

These days we hear story after story of people defending themselves in their own homes.  I want to take a look at our rights and responsibilities when confronted by an intruder in our own homes.

The Castle Doctrine, or the Defense of Habitation Law is a derived from English Common Law. The law defines ones home, or in some cases any place that you legally occupy, as a place where you have the liberty to be free from trespass.  It also gives you the right to defend your life, or the life of another who legally occupies the “castle” with deadly force if the situation warrants it.  In a legal proceeding your actions can be defended as justifiable under the Castle Doctrine.

The Castle Doctrine is currently enforced at the state level, and this is the way it should remain in order to limit the involvement of the federal government.  However not all states have or support the right to defend yourself in your home.  The opposition of the Castle Doctrine is termed the “Duty to Retreat”.

Each state with some form of Castle Doctrine requires that at least of one the following conditions is met (per Wikipedia):

• An intruder must be making (or have made) an attempt to unlawfully and/or forcibly enter an occupied home, business or car.
• The intruder must be acting illegally — e.g. the Castle Doctrine does not give the right to attack officers of the law acting in the course of their legal duties
• The occupant(s) of the home must reasonably believe that the intruder intends to inflict serious bodily harm or death upon an occupant of the home
• The occupant(s) of the home must reasonably believe that the intruder intends to commit some other felony, such as arson or burglary
• The occupant(s) of the home must not have provoked or instigated an intrusion, or provoked or instigated an intruder to threaten or use deadly force
• The occupant(s) of the home may be required to attempt to exit the house or otherwise retreat (this is called the “Duty to Retreat” and most self-defense statutes referred to as examples of “Castle Doctrine” expressly state that the homeowner has no such duty)

In all cases, the occupant(s) of the home must be there legally, must not be fugitives from the law, must not be using the Castle Doctrine to aid or abet another person in being a fugitive from the law, and must not use deadly force upon an officer of the law or an officer of the peace while they are performing or attempting to perform their legal duties.

The list of states that have no Castle Doctrine are:

• Iowa
• New Mexico
• New York
• Oregon
• Virginia
• Wisconsin

• District of Columbia

If you live in one of these states, then forgive me, but I am sorry.  According to our Second Amendment as described in the Heller Opinion not having a Castle Doctrine is a violation of this liberty.  We each have the individual right to keep and bear arms for private use (including self-defense).  With any form of Duty to Retreat in place this encroaches on our right to bear arms for the purpose of self defense.  It is not as blatant a violation as the assault weapons ban but requiring you to retreat in any manner is preventing you for defending yourself.  Self preservation is a natural instinct brought out by fear and pain.  I have moral and ethical objections to any law that requires me to keep myself in the presence of a threat when the Second Amendment affords me the right to stop the threat.

As citizens we all have obligations to uphold our constitution.  If you reside in one of the states listed above I urge you to express to your state that not having a Castle Doctrine is a violation of your Second Amendment rights.

I welcome information regarding active petitions to enact a Castle Doctrine in the above states.