'No retreat' bill stalls in committee
Thursday, Jan 25, 2007

By Doug Thompson
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK - A bill to remove the requirement that civilians attempt to retreat before they can use deadly force made no headway Wednesday in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sen. Jerry Taylor, D-Pine Bluff, sponsor of Senate Bill 2, pulled the bill from consideration before a vote amid a barrage of criticism in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"Can you provide a single example of the need for this dramatic change?" Sen. Jim Luker, D-Wynne, asked at one point.

Taylor related a Texas case in which an armed assailant killed several people at a restaurant. Someone with a concealed weapons permit was at the scene there, but had not been allowed to take a gun into the establishment, he said.

"One case in another state years ago doesn't make the case for this," Luker replied.

"We shouldn't wait until somebody gets their brains blown out," retorted Sen. Paul Miller, D-Melbourne, who supports the bill but is not on the committee.

Too often, "We assume people are not going to act responsibly," Taylor said.

Sen. Mary Anne Salmon, D-North Little Rock, said in turn, "There are a lot of people who are not responsible who are looking for an excuse."

"My concern is that perhaps we'd have more people hurt than fewer," said Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville.

"You can count votes as easily as I can," the committee chairman, Sen. Ed Wilkinson, D-Greenwood, admonished Taylor. "It appears you have some work to do on this bill."

Taylor pulled the bill from consideration but did ask that those who had come to testify on the bill be given a chance to speak.

A spokesman for the Arkansas Prosecuting Attorney's Association called the bill "broad and vague."

Jean Painton of Pine Bluff said she had been charged with second-degree battery and was being sued in civil court for attempting to intervene with a gun to help an 11-year-old near at an apartment near her office.

One of five men who had broken into the apartment where the girl was staying grabbed Painton's pistol and the gun went off and shot the man in the leg, she said.

[This message was edited by JB on 01-25-07 at .]

The "example" mentioned above is likely the shooting that took place at a Luby's in Killeen several years ago. That case led to the passage of the concealed weapon law in Texas, permitting someone to go into the business and defend themself if they got trained and licensed in the use of a firearm.

Once again, this may have come from a case in Florida. Does anyone have a Texas example of where the duty to retreat somehow led to an unjust conviction, or even a prosecution, for an ordinary citizen who was shooting a robber or burglar?

Guess the NRA lobbyists in Arkansas aren't earning their keep. Their Texas counterparts have already enlisted the appropriate committee chairman as their bill authors, so there is little or no chance the Texas bill will die in committee, regardless of the actual merits of the bill.

Shannon

What is the bill number?

There are two identical house bills; the bill numbers are:

HB 103 by Riddle

HB 284 by Driver*

(*note the 87 -- that's right, 87 -- co-authors of HB 284 and draw your own conclusions)

Sen. Wentworth will be filing the senate bill soon; I would expect that bill to have at least 20 co-authors as well (again, do the math and draw your own conclusions).

legislators don't know how to write.

1. Very popular issue.
or
2. A camel. (As in a horse designed by committee.)

It only applies to thespians, I guess.... it keeps reading "the actor" all throughout the text....