I'm Just Sayin'

A revolution of sorts is underway. The particular change of thinking I am about to address is that of one's right to defend himself....physically I mean.  It has, until the last few years, been the policy of our government that we are only able to defend ourselves against an attack as a last resort. We have been told that we must attempt to flee an attack and that we could only defend ourselves when we had no other choice...or we could face criminal charges. "Let the police defend you" was the order of the day. This approach to personal defense was an attempt to make our country more civilized. This type of thinking  also led to the light sentencing  and criminal rehabilitation  efforts of the 60's and 70's.  Our society had decided to accept blame for the evil acts by those with predatory tendencies. "We must be responsible" we reasoned, "because we have allowed the breakdown of the family and we have not made sufficient effort to ensure equal footing for the poor, the less educated and the socially disadvantaged and so it is our duty to rehabilitate those who harm us...rather than punish them."

The result of this approach was a runaway crime rate. Whoops....  It took a few years for public outcry to overcome the leniency of the judges and the courts, but our voices were heard as we desperately tried to repair the damage caused by the bleeding heart liberal and the soft hand of criminal justice.  New sentencing guidelines were demanded and received. The death penalty...all but dead itself for many years, was reinstated and supported by the majority of Americans. We decided to "get tough on crime". We decided to place blame where blame was due. We decided that being nice to evil people will not cause them to be nice to us.

But, tough sentencing guidelines weren't enough.  Prison was only a place to put an attacker after the attack....after the damage was done. The police could not protect us and finally..the truth about police protection was exposed or defined...depends upon how you look at it,  in a landmark court decision. 

Police aren’t required to protect you. In Warren v. District of Columbia (1981), the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled, “official police personnel and the government employing them are not generally liable to victims of criminal acts for failure to provide adequate police protection. . . a government and its agents are under no general duty to provide public services, such as police protection, to any particular citizen.” In Bowers v. DeVito (1982), the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled, “[T]here is no constitutional right to be protected by the state against being murdered by criminals or madmen.”

During this same time period, the most usual standard by which personal self defense or the use of deadly force by a citizen was judged was if the attacked first made an effort to flee his attacker before defending himself. This policy of  "last resort"  resulted in quite a few innocent victims being prosecuted for defending themselves against attack. Even if the victim prevailed, and was acquitted of the charges brought against him, and this was not always the case, he would be burdened with large legal fees AND the threat of lawsuits seeking compensation for the damage inflicted upon his attacker! Whoops again. This time the public outcry was for the right to protect oneself and one's property and protection from possible criminal charges and the threat of lawsuits for damage to the bad guys.

The most notable of the first efforts for the right to defend oneself was, I believe, the  passage in Florida in 1987 of what has become known as "shall issue" laws or "right to carry" laws. The RTC laws guarantee that unless a just reason can be proven, any citizen can apply for and is guaranteed the reception of a permit to carry a handgun for self protection. All the nay sayers...all the bleeding heart alarmists proclaimed that the result of this practice would guarantee the return of  wild west shoot outs, blood in the streets and an increased rate of violence. Wrong. In the first five year period of the RTC law in Florida, from 1987 to 1992, the overall violent crime rate fell by 23% while the rest of the U.S. rose 9%. So.... in the following years, 39 more states have adopted RTC laws and in every single instance, these states have seen their crime rate fall, especially assaults and burglary. The violent crime rate  is now, in the U.S. , at a 31 year low.

The most recent trend towards the right of the individual to protect himself has been the enactment, by many states,  of the "castle doctrine" of self defense.  The castle doctrine basically extends specific protection for those who must defend themselves by further defining the right to defend one's home by invasion of any unwanted person who the homeowner thinks is a threat to his or his family's well being and some states have extended this definition to include protection of his personal property. Many states further define the term "castle" to include an individual's automobile or motor home. Guess what state pioneered this new doctrine? Yep...Florida led the way when on Oct. 1, 2005 it became the first state to enact such legislation but this time other states followed the Florida lead with great haste. Over 20 states now have similar legislation or are actively considering the passage of similar legislation. Included in the wording of most of these castle doctrine laws is specific protection...immunity from civil lawsuits.

We are beginning to take our country back from the grip of the criminal and his evil intent. We are beginning to understand that laws only describe boundaries...behavior we don't want to occur and the penalties we will administer to those who cross those boundaries, but laws do not deter crime....like I said, laws only describe criminal activity. Police do not stop crime...they try to catch the criminal after the crime has been committed. Jails and prisons do not rehabilitate criminals...they simply house them behind a protective barrier.  We must protect ourselves. We must insist on the authority to defend ourselves. History has proven that self defense is the best chance we have to lower our crime rate and provide ourselves with a safer environment. Running from crime, running from the criminals does not work.