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Nebraska Firearms Owners Association - Victims Protection Act

Nebraska Firearms Owners Association

Omaha, NE --(Ammoland.com)- As I write this I have just finished preparing my testimony for the hearing on LB 804, scheduled for this afternoon. I am about to leave for the Capital. Before I do I wanted to get some important information to you.

What many have referred to as Castle Doctrine has been a priority of ours for the past few years. With LB 804, we have a shot this year. But we need Nebraskans to act. I need your help. Do you use Facebook? Share the ProtectVictimsNow.org website. Tell your friends about this important legislation. Please forward this note to your family and friends. Talk about this issue with your neighbors.

The 2012 Legislative session is in full swing. New Bills have been introduced and some of them have already been placed on the hearing schedules. This year we are only getting 7 days notice for hearing schedules. It was 10 or 11 days last year. Since this is a short session year things are moving fast

We tried something new this year for voting on the issues. In the past all voting occurred on our website, or the forum. This year we sent a link to the survey out with a newsletter in order to get wider exposure to the membership. If you haven’t voted, you still can. The link to the survey is here. Please take a moment and let us know what position you’d like the NFOA to take on these important pieces of legislation.

Priority Bill Needs Your Help
The NFOA has spent the last 3 years tirelessly working with the Legislature to pass a Victims Protection Act in Nebraska, which some have called the Castle Doctrine. In past years, we’ve been blocked by the stubborn resistance from several liberal senators on the Judiciary Committee who choose to protect criminals over victims. But this year will be different. This year, we have a new bill introduced: LB 804, and we see this bill making it out of the Judiciary Committee, to the floor for a general vote, and ultimately passing.

Our approach this year is much more aggressive. As an NFOA member, you know that we’ve launched ProtectVictimsNow.org, a website dedicated to educating Nebraska voters on the Victim Protection Act. But we need to reach Nebraskans who haven’t joined the NFOA yet. We need them to call and write their senators, just like you have been doing. So to reach them, we have prepared a radio ad ready to air on stations throughout Nebraska to call those Nebraskans to action and join you and I in working to get the Victims Protection Act passed.

The challenge is that airing radio ads costs money. And as a non-profit organization, the NFOA must raise those funds through donations. As a non-profit organization, we have worked out a greatly reduced rate of just under $5000 to air over 100 Victims Protection Act radio ads throughout the State that will reach over 70,000 Nebraska voters. That’s a lot of money, but we have well over 5000 NFOA members and if every single one of us chipped in, as little as $1, we can mobilize well over 10 times our NFOA membership and push this bill beyond the few obstructive senators in Judiciary Committee and to the Unicameral floor, where we know there is enough support for the Victim Protection Act to pass.

Do you want to be secure in knowing that your home is your castle? Do you want to have the piece of mind knowing that if you ever have to legally defend yourself or your family that the violent criminal (or his family) won’t be able to hire an ambulance-chasing lawyer to sue you for your life savings? Then please consider donating to the ProtectVictimsNow.org operation. Together we can get LB804 passed and have a Victims Protection Act in Nebraska this year!

Member voting
The position we take to the Legislature and lobby for is what you our members tell use to take. Take the legislative survey here.

To participate in discussions of these bills please join us in the forums.

Mission -
Nebraska Firearms Owners Association (NFOA) is organized for the purpose of voicing the opinion of its membership to the Nebraska Legislature and other law making bodies within the state as well as Federal level, as it pertains to firearms. NFOA members will also make it a priority to educate residents on firearms related issues.
On the web: www.NebraskaFirearms.org or email: AAllen@NebraskaFirearms.org for more information

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Michigan's Castle Doctrine & No-Retreat Legislation Review

Michigan Coalition For Responsible Gun Owners

Michigan - -(Ammoland.com)- Occasionally we like to review Michigan’s version of the Castle Doctrine and No-Retreat Laws.

Each of these Bills provide rather specific circumstances and protections which, taken as a whole, provide strong protection for a person who is forced to defend himself from criminal attack (which here means grievous bodily injury, rape, or death)

PA 311 provides a “rebuttable presumption” in a civil or criminal case that a person who defends himself believes that criminal attack is threatened if (1) he is in a dwelling or business, or (2) the criminal is attempting to remove someone from a dwelling, business, or vehicle. This does not apply if the alleged criminal has a legal right to be in the dwelling or business, or if the person defending himself is committing a crime, or if the person entering is a law enforcement officer in the course of his duties.

PA 310 states that a prosecutor may still charge a person who has defended himself if the prosecutor can present to the court evidence that the person did not believe he was threatened with criminal attack. This represents a substantial change from the prior law which puts the burden of proof on the person defending himself to show that he did believe he was subject to criminal attack.

PA 309 says that if a person is anywhere he has a legal right to be, he has no duty to retreat if he believe he is threatened by criminal attack. Note that this differs from the home/business situation where it is presumed that he believes he is subject to criminal attack.

PA 313 is subtle: “Sec. 21c. (1) In cases in which section 2 of the self-defense act does not apply, the common law of this state applies except that the duty to retreat before using deadly force is not required if an individual is in his or her own dwelling or within the curtilage of that dwelling.”

PA 314 states that a person who defends himself (or in defense of another individual) with deadly force or less than deadly force anywhere he has a right to be is immune from civil liability for damages.

PA 312 provides attorney fees to a defendant if a civil suit is filed and the court determines that the defendant is immune from civil liability under PA 314. .

About:
The Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners is a non-profit, non-partisan organization. Formed from just eight people in 1996, we now have thousands of members and numerous affiliated clubs across the state. We’re growing larger and more effective every day.

Our mission statement is: “Promoting safe use and ownership of firearms through education, litigation, and legislation” Visit: www.mcrgo.org

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