Blood In The Streets

Remember when the Minnesota Legislature was first debating our Minnesota Personal Protection Act? Predictions of mass shootings and blood in the streets came from many of those who were against the Act, including our friends at the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Again from the inbox....

Dear Minnesota Brady Campaign Member,
Soon, the State House of Representatives will consider HF 498, a bill that would allow a gun owner to shoot and kill another person in public areas, even if their life were not in danger. This bill eliminates a citizen's duty to avoid a threat and instead allow the gun user to "shoot first" and ask questions later... or never.
CALL YOUR MINNESOTA STATE REPRESENTATIVE TODAY!
Tell him/her: "I urge you to oppose HF 498.Deadly force should not be a first resort in public!"
Click here to look up your State Representative's phone number.
This legislation permits the average citizen to bypass our entire justice system by permitting him or her to assume the role of police officer, prosecutor, judge, and executioner -- but it doesn’t stop there -- this bill also protects the shooter from criminal liability even if they kill or injure an innocent bystander!
Allowing people to use deadly force as a first resort in public can have deadly consequences for innocent bystanders who can be killed or injured in the crossfire.

OH MY...blood in the streets.....except for one small problem. HF 498 doesn't exactly say what the Brady campaign says it says....HF 498 is Minnesota's Castle Doctrine bill. What that means is that if you, as a permitted gun owner are in your home (that is not in public for those of you in Washington DC) and someone that you do not want in your home breaks into your home (again for clarification that would be NOT in public) you are allowed to defend your life, your family and your property by firing on said intruder. Also covered in this legistion is your personal vehicle so that if you are a legal permit holder and some armed thug tries to car jack you, you are able to defend yourself in whatever manner necessary. The law does go into great painstaking detail as to what presumptions must be met in order to meet the criteria of this bill and what the consequences are if those presumptions are NOT met. There is no "by-passing" the justice system (as the Brady Campaign states). Individuals who do use deadly force will still answer to the authorities in order to make sure that the presumptions of harm laid out in the bill were met.

This is another one of these situations where a lobbying organization twists the facts of legislation in order to support their narrow view point on the legislation which is why I strongly urge all of you to make an effort to go to the State Legislatures website to look up these bills (as I did today). It will tell you exactly what the "real deal" is.