ORPA Testimony on HB 264: "Castle Doctrine"

I testified on behalf of Ohio House Bill 264 at a hearing today. Please note the bill's sponsor and co-sponsors. The hearing was for the Criminal Justice committee, chaired by Representative White. The corresponding bill in the Ohio Senate is Senate Bill 184. There were two proponents and two opponents testifying in reference to this bill. Ken Hanson, of the Buckeye Firearms Association, was the other proponent, and Mr. Hanson gave his usual excellent testimony on behalf of this bill. The Buckeye Firearms Association deserves a tremendous amount of credit for their hard work on this and much other legislation.

The two main arguments advanced by the opponents were: 1) There is no need for this legislation, since self-defense is sufficiently covered in common law, and 2) Passage of the legislation would enable true criminals to claim self-defense in any case of a shooting. In response to the first argument, unfortunately there have been cases where people's lives have been severely damaged after being forced to defend themselves. Ryan Cundiff is one such person. For the second argument, instead of hypothetical nightmare scenarios, which the anti-self-defense advocates love to cite, we can point to many other states which have similar laws and none of the problems predicted.

I urge you to contact your State Representative and State Senator and ask them to move this vital legislation forward. You can find out who your representatives are and keep track of legislation in the "Ohio Legislation Status" area on this web-page.