WILL MISSOURIANS GET A NEW CASTLE LAW THIS YEAR?

A committee of the Missouri House debated House Bill 189 yesterday. According to an Article published in the Kansas City Star (last year) one aspect of last year's debate highlighted "... the (homeowner's) right to stop an intruder (from) breaking into their home without having to determine whether the intruder intended to harm them."

Hooray for the bill’s sponsor, Republican Rep. Marilyn Ruestman of Joplin. A St Charles County legislator co-sponsoring HB 189 is Rep. Cynthia Davis (R-19th). In addition, Rep. Davis strongly supports similar legislation, HB 60. Rep. Tom Dempsey (R-18th) also supports Castle Law legislation and voted for the bill last year. Rep Davis indicates she will speak in support of Castle Law legislation on the floor of the House, when appropriate.

It was puzzling to this writer to read that last year ... (more)

...some legislators argued against passage of Castle Law legislation on the grounds that "... the bill would allow a gang member to invite a rival to his home. The gang member could kill the rival inside the home and call it justifiable."

Of course, good citizens don't condone unlawful activity as illustrated in the previous paragraph, and we certainly do not. That said, common sense would dictate that "criminals" will do what they do and if they choose to attempt to find cover under laws that allow good, honest citizens to defend and protect themselves against thieves, thugs, murderers, drug pushers and the like then that only adds to our view that HB 189 and HB 60 are good pieces of legislation.

Perhaps the point is worth repeating! If thieves, murderers and drug pushers are going to use this law to knock each other off then legislators should not allow concerns over that issue to get in the way of good citizens being able to protect themselves. Maybe such a result as that hypothesized in the previous sentence will even save law enforcement the trouble, and the taxpayers the expense, of tracking down and prosecuting these gangsters?

We are advised that this year's Bill HB 189 is essentially the same as the legislation proposed last year (HB 1461, Castle Law) by Joplin Republican Rep. Marilyn Ruestman. If you would like to read the short article about the debate on HB 1461 that appeared in the Kansas City Star last year, go to the web site address listed below:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1612120/posts