Scott Perry is leading the charge to bypass Dwight Evans, who’s been tying this up in the Appropriations Committee, and get this bill to the floor for a vote. Apparently that could be any minute. From NRA:
A discharge petition has been filed for House Bill 40, Pennsylvania’s “Castle Doctrine†bill. In order to get the bill to the House floor for consideration, this petition must be approved. That vote could happen as early as tomorrow.
House Bill 40, sponsored by State Representative Scott Perry (R-92), would permit law-abiding citizens to use force, including deadly force, against an attacker in their homes and any places outside of their home where they have a legal right to be.  HB40 would also protect individuals from civil lawsuits by the attacker or the attacker’s family when force is used.
Please contact your State Representative AS SOON AS POSSIBLE and respectfully urge them to vote for the discharge petition and to support HB40 on the floor. Contact information can be found by clicking here.
We might be able to pass this.
Blast from the Past of the “Joyce Guys” …
http://www.gunguys.com/?p=1394
I wonder who “mike” was at the time?
I truly hope they can bypass the shenanigans … the castle doctrine is common-sense legislation and deserves an honest up-down vote in PA.
The law is actually much more carefully written than the quoted excerpt implies. Worth following the link and reading the language of the bill.
Another point worth noting is that while committee chairmen “tie up” bill all the time, the parliamentary rules for the PA House specifically forbid the Appropriations Committee from holding a bill if it’s been passed from it’s committee of origin, AND there’s no significant financial impact to consider. See House Rule 19(a)(3):
http://www.house.state.pa.us/rules/2009HouRules.htm#19a
“The Appropriations Committee shall be limited in its consideration of any such bill to the fiscal aspects of the bill and shall not consider the substantive merits of the bill nor refuse to report any such bill from committee for reasons other than fiscal aspects.”
Technically, Evans is in violation of this rule, as HB40 has absolutely no financial impact on the state government, and in fact due to its civil immunity clause for justifiable use of force, has the potential to save local and state governments money by preventing frivolous lawsuits.
I followed that “Gun Guys” link, and read how he thinks expanded self-defense rights is “license to murder”. I then followed Mike’s link about the prostitute killing her John, trying to make it sound like the prostitute killed him in cold blood.
Let’s see: A John plans to kill his prostitute; he leaves the gun on the counter so that he could answer a phone call; when he comes back and threatens her…she’s supposed to flee? She’s supposed to say, “Please don’t hurt me! I have a gun!”? I have no idea what the situation was, or why she felt she couldn’t flee, but in any case, I feel no sympathy for the “murder” of this John.