New Texas Bill Requires Victims to Attempt Retreat before Using Deadly Force

Lone Star Gun Rights is alerting Texans to a bill pre-filed by Texas Rep. Terry Meza; HB 196: AN ACT relating to the use of deadly force in defense of a person or property. Per LSGR:

…a very worrying piece of legislation was introduced by Irving State Representative Terry Meza. HB 196 seeks to repeal the Castle Doctrine, preventing a homeowner from using firearms to defend their property.

Yes and no. The bill does strike “robbery, or aggravated robbery” from the list of things one can use deadly force against in Sections 9.32(a)(3)(B). But the use of deadly force — and not just with a firearm — to prevent the loss of “tangible, movable property” is left intact in Section 9.41.

Now, in my own state one cannot use deadly force to prevent a theft, but nonlethal force is permissible. And if a criminal is stupid enough to escalate the situation by assaulting you in order to complete the theft, deadly force would then be on the table. That's also the case in Texas under Section 9.31. So I don't think that would be too great a problem in of of itself, other than the precedent of restricting rights.

The problem is that HB 196 would also do something else, something problematic. Texas has no duty for victims to retreat. This bill would require a victim to attempt to retreat in the face of an attacker before using deadly force, except when you are in your own home (Section 9.31(c)). This eliminates so-called stand your ground protection.

I call duty to retreat Faster Than A Speeding Bullet, because if your attacker is armed with a firearm, that's how fast you would have to be for a retreat to work.

Texans should read LGSR's entire alert for a list of other bad Dem-sponsored 2A infringements.

This article originally appeared on TheTruthAboutGuns.com