[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 73 Introduced in House (IH)]
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 73
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.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 4, 2007
Mr. Bartlett of Maryland introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Citizens' Self-Defense Act of
2007''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Police cannot protect, and are not legally liable for
failing to protect, individual citizens, as evidenced by the
following:
(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.''.
(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.
(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.
(2) Citizens frequently must use firearms to defend
themselves, as evidenced by the following:
(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.
(B) Of the 2,400,000 self-defense cases, more than
192,000 are by women defending themselves against
sexual abuse.
(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.
(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:
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
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--
(1) in defense of self or family against a reasonably
perceived threat of imminent and unlawful infliction of serious
bodily injury;
(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; and
(3) in defense of the person's home in the course of the
commission of a felony by another person.
(b) Firearm Defined.--As used in subsection (a), the term
``firearm'' means--
(1) a shotgun (as defined in section 921(a)(5) of title 18,
United States Code);
(2) a rifle (as defined in section 921(a)(7) of title 18,
United States Code); or
(3) a handgun (as defined in section 10 of Public Law 99-
408).
(c) Enforcement of Right.--
(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.
(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.
(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.
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