'Self-Defense' Bill Introduced in House of Representatives
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
January 12, 2005
(CNSNews.com) - A Maryland Republican has introduced a bill protecting the right of law-abiding Americans to use guns in self-defense.
The proposed Citizens' Self-Defense Act of 2005, introduced last week by Rep. Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland, would specifically protect the right of law-abiding citizens to use handguns, rifles and shotguns in defending themselves, their families or their homes.
The bill also would allow people whose self-defense rights have been violated by any government entity to bring legal action in federal court.
The bill, H.R. 47, has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. It has the "enthusiastic support" of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), which is urging swift consideration of the bill.
John Michael Snyder, CCRKBA's public affairs director, noted that tens of millions of law-abiding, gun-owning Americans voted in November. "Now that the 109th Congress has begun its first session, and as we prepare for the presidential inauguration, we intend to continue to carry the political fight to the opponents," he said.
"For far too long, the decent, law-abiding gun owners of America have been on the receiving end of political assaults and restrictive legislative proposals emanating from the ranks of an elitist gun-grabbing establishment. Now, though, the tide is turning," he said.
"America is ready to really sock it to the anti-gun media, entertainment personalities, and ecclesiastical holier-than-thous, and the political lapdogs who try to work their wretched will."
CCRKBA says it is determined to make the individual right to "keep and bear arms" an indisputable matter of public policy.
