H.R. 17.. Your action is needed NOW!!

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Text of H.R.17 as Introduced in House
Citizens' Self-Defense Act of 2009
To protect the right to obtain firearms for security, and to use firearms in defense of self, family, or home, and to provide for the enforcement of such right.
current 111st session of congress

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HR 17 IHCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

111th CONGRESSCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

1st SessionCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

H. R. 17CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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To protect the right to obtain firearms for security, and to use firearms in defense of self, family, or home, and to provide for the enforcement of such right.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

January 6, 2009CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Mr. BARTLETT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the JudiciaryCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

A BILLCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

To protect the right to obtain firearms for security, and to use firearms in defense of self, family, or home, and to provide for the enforcement of such right.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘Citizens’ Self-Defense Act of 2009’.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

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The Congress finds the following:CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(1) Police cannot protect, and are not legally liable for failing to protect, individual citizens, as evidenced by the following:CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(A) The courts have consistently ruled that the police do not have an obligation to protect individuals, only the public in general. For example, in Warren v. District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department, 444 A.2d 1 (D.C. App. 1981), the court stated: ‘[C]ourts have without exception concluded that when a municipality or other governmental entity undertakes to furnish police services, it assumes a duty only to the public at large and not to individual members of the community.’.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(B) Former Florida Attorney General Jim Smith told Florida legislators that police responded to only 200,000 of 700,000 calls for help to Dade County authorities.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(C) The United States Department of Justice found that, in 1989, there were 168,881 crimes of violence for which police had not responded within 1 hour.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(2) Citizens frequently must use firearms to defend themselves, as evidenced by the following:CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(A) Every year, more than 2,400,000 people in the United States use a gun to defend themselves against criminals--or more than 6,500 people a day. This means that, each year, firearms are used 60 times more often to protect the lives of honest citizens than to take lives.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(B) Of the 2,400,000 self-defense cases, more than 192,000 are by women defending themselves against sexual abuse.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(C) Of the 2,400,000 times citizens use their guns to defend themselves every year, 92 percent merely brandish their gun or fire a warning shot to scare off their attackers. Less than 8 percent of the time, does a citizen kill or wound his or her attacker.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(3) Law-abiding citizens, seeking only to provide for their families’ defense, are routinely prosecuted for brandishing or using a firearm in self-defense. For example:CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(A) In 1986, Don Bennett of Oak Park, Illinois, was shot at by 2 men who had just stolen $1,200 in cash and jewelry from his suburban Chicago service station. The police arrested Bennett for violating Oak Park’s handgun ban. The police never caught the actual criminals.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(B) Ronald Biggs, a resident of Goldsboro, North Carolina, was arrested for shooting an intruder in 1990. Four men broke into Biggs’ residence one night, ransacked the home and then assaulted him with a baseball bat. When Biggs attempted to escape through the back door, the group chased him and Biggs turned and shot one of the assailants in the stomach. Biggs was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon--a felony. His assailants were charged with misdemeanors.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(C) Don Campbell of Port Huron, Michigan, was arrested, jailed, and criminally charged after he shot a criminal assailant in 1991. The thief had broken into Campbell’s store and attacked him. The prosecutor plea-bargained with the assailant and planned to use him to testify against Campbell for felonious use of a firearm. Only after intense community pressure did the prosecutor finally drop the charges.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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(4) The courts have granted immunity from prosecution to police officers who use firearms in the line of duty. Similarly, law-abiding citizens who use firearms to protect themselves, their families, and their homes against violent felons should not be subject to lawsuits by the violent felons who sought to victimize them.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SEC. 3. RIGHT TO OBTAIN FIREARMS FOR SECURITY, AND TO USE FIREARMS IN DEFENSE OF SELF, FAMILY, OR HOME; ENFORCEMENT.

(a) Reaffirmation of Right- A person not prohibited from receiving a firearm by Section 922(g) of title 18, United States Code, shall have the right to obtain firearms for security, and to use firearms--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(1) in defense of self or family against a reasonably perceived threat of imminent and unlawful infliction of serious bodily injury;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(2) in defense of self or family in the course of the commission by another person of a violent felony against the person or a member of the person’s family; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(3) in defense of the person’s home in the course of the commission of a felony by another person.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(b) Firearm Defined- As used in subsection (a), the term ‘firearm’ means--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(1) a shotgun (as defined in section 921(a)(5) of title 18, United States Code);CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(2) a rifle (as defined in section 921(a)(7) of title 18, United States Code); orCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(3) a handgun (as defined in section 10 of Public Law 99-408).CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(c) Enforcement of Right-CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(1) IN GENERAL- A person whose right under subsection (a) is violated in any manner may bring an action in any United States district court against the United States, any State, or any person for damages, injunctive relief, and such other relief as the court deems appropriate.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(2) AUTHORITY TO AWARD A REASONABLE ATTORNEY’S FEE- In an action brought under paragraph (1), the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing plaintiff a reasonable attorney’s fee as part of the costs.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

(3) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS- An action may not be brought under paragraph (1) after the 5-year period that begins with the date the violation described in paragraph (1) is discovered.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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