Governor Greg Abbott (R) responded to a Democrat bill targeting castle doctrine by making clear Texas “won’t force homeowners to retreat” when attacked.
Castle doctrine is a statute allowing homeowners to use deadly force in defense of their lives, without first resorting to retreat, in an event where they believe their own lives to be endangered.
Texas law protects the use of such force defensively against a person who has:
(A) unlawfully and with force entered, or was attempting to enter unlawfully and with force, the actor’s occupied habitation, vehicle, or place of business or employment; (B) unlawfully and with force removed, or was attempting to remove unlawfully and with force, the actor from the actor’s habitation, vehicle, or place of business or employment; or (C) was committing or attempting to commit aggravated kidnapping, murder, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated robbery.
Breitbart News reported State Rep. Terry Meza (D-TX) filed a bill to gut the Texas castle doctrine. Meza used a tweet to explain, “What my bill would do if passed, would require a homeowner to exhaust the potential of safely retreating into their habitation before using deadly force in defense of themselves or their property.”
Abbott tweeted a response to Meza, saying, “Let me be clear. The Castle Doctrine will not be reduced. We won’t force Texas homeowners to retreat.”
He observed in the era of “crazy ‘defund police’ ideas, homeowners need to protect themselves now more than ever.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.