SACRAMENTO, Cali. (DDN) – Legislators in California have introduced a bill that seeks to impose restrictions on self-defense, requiring individuals to “retreat,” eliminating protections for crime prevention, and constraining the use of force to what is deemed “reasonably necessary.”
Individuals stepping in to safeguard others or halt criminal activities may encounter increased legal challenges. For example, an individual such as Daniel Penny from New York could potentially be found guilty for restraining a threatening person. A jury in Manhattan reached a verdict in December, determining that Penny, whose legal team argued self-defense, was not guilty of criminally negligent homicide.
Everytown for Gun Safety, an organization advocating for gun control, supports the legislation, asserting that it prevents white supremacists from misusing self-defense as a rationale for shootings.
“White supremacists and other extremists have hidden behind self-defense laws to fire a gun and turn any conflict into a death sentence,” said Monisha Henley, senior vice president for government affairs at Everytown for Gun Safety. “We thank Assemblymember Zbur for his commitment to gun safety.”
AB 1333, brought forth by Assemblymember Rick Zbur, D-Los Angeles, removes safeguards for employing deadly force in the pursuit of felons or preserving order, while introducing regulations that might classify self-defense fatalities as homicide.
Taking a life would no longer be seen as acceptable if it was clear that a person outside their residence “could have avoided deadly force by safely retreating” or “employed more force than what was reasonably necessary.”
Those who incite violence might defend homicide if they had a “reasonable belief” that they were facing imminent death from the defender and had exhausted all escape routes — or if they retreated but the defender they assaulted continued to engage.
Reference: California bill restricts self-defense, ends crime-stopping protection, mandates ‘retreat’
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