Amid the hysteria surrounding the controversial shooting of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, anti-gunners are looking to repeal or at least weaken our hard fought for Castle Doctrine law. The ill-intentioned wish to trick the ill-informed into believing that the similar, Stand Your Ground Law in Florida is responsible for this situation. They are painting it as being tantamount to a license for vigilantism. Their rhetoric has also expanded to include the completely false assertion that our law is “sloppily written.” Paul Valone covers this in great detail in his latest Examiner column.
The first establishes legal presumption that if somebody “unlawfully and forcefully” enters your home, workplace or vehicle, you have a “reasonable fear of imminent death or serious bodily harm” and may use up to deadly force in self-defense.
Second, anywhere you may lawfully be, if you face “reasonable fear of imminent death or serious bodily harm,” you have no duty to retreat before using deadly force. It is not a hunting license allowing you to chase someone down, as the media asserts.
Finally, it grants immunity from litigation and malicious prosecution for people who justifiably use deadly force. 64-year-old Joshua Moore of Rocky Mount, who defended his wife when their produce stand was robbed, was prosecuted for murder. Moore spent thousands on appeals before winning acquittal in the NC Supreme Court. Had Castle Doctrine been in place when this happened, Moore would have been protected from this prosecution.
Copy and paste the list below to email the entire NC General Assembly. Let them know to keep their hands off of your Castle Doctrine. You fought too hard to gain its protections.
Recent talk of weakening our Castle Doctrine laws due to the Trayvon Martin situation in Florida is a gross overreaction and would be completely wrong. The Castle Doctrine was carefully written and thoroughly debated. It protects honest citizens in legitimate self defense situations and does not allow misconduct with firearms as incorrectly believed by the angry mobs flooding into Florida.
The Castle Doctrine is a good law protecting law abiding citizens from overzealous prosecutors and frivolous lawsuits NOT a so-called license to kill as contended by those who would deny the rights guaranteed by those who suffered and died in past wars to secure them.
In short: KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY CASTLE DOCTRINE! I will be monitoring your actions through Grass Roots North Carolina.