Thumbs up for South Carolina!

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http://www.wyff4.com/news/6902645/detail.html

Bill Makes Deadly Force Legal When Defending Property

POSTED: 8:30 am EST February 10, 2006

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COLUMBIA, S.C. -- The House has passed a bill that lets residents use deadly force to defend their homes, businesses and vehicles against attackers without fear of being prosecuted or sued.

The House unanimously sent the measure to the Senate Thursday.

The proposal would put into law what is already precedent through past court cases and expands what is defendable to include businesses and vehicles.
 
Why hasn't the Brady bunch descended en masse to prevent this?

Yeah, it would be a total waste of their (thankfully) limited funds! :evil:
 
To be clear, there was already an ability to legally defend property. What I see is removing "duty to retreat" as a debate in prosecution when the shooter has a right to be on the property.
 
Removing the 'duty to retreat' is a good step in the right direction. Why on earth should you have to run away from your home? Good for SC. I wish the rest of the states would follow suit.

Of course, there's soon going to be the pre-requisite blood bath.

999!
 
In all honesty, the fear of criminal prosecution for use of a legal firearm in legitimate self-defense has always been pretty low in SC. As I would only use lethal force to defend against a real and serious threat (death or grave bodily harm; not a fat lip or an injury to my pride :rolleyes: ), and don't go around inciting or provoking any type of confrontation, I've not been concerned with being prosecuted should all my best efforts fail and I be forced to protect myself or my family.

The big bonus I see is a statutory protection against civil action, which (win or lose) would be financially devastating to my family. Telling a violent felon (or his survivors), "You are not legally entitled to sue this person for defending his life/family/home" is a lot easier than convincing a jury to find in my favor, rather than (maybe) awarding the plaintiff some judgment out of "sympathy." Legal defense would cost a ton, anyway.

"Ya committed a burglary, ya didn't enter the lottery!"
 
makes me glad Im soon to be living there in a few months. It is good to know that if I need to defend my home I can do so and not have to worry about going to jail for it.

This goes right along with my thinking that home owners should be immune from prosecution and civil suit for any act agianst someone who is unlawfully on their property. Obvious examples would be if the guy is begging for his life and you execute him, but short of extremes like that home owners should be immune.

Wonder who has less crime....SC or NJ.
 
scbair is right. In SC, reasonably defending your/yours on your home property was never risking much in the way of criminal prosecution. But there's a big risk on the civil side of the coin. Hopefully this bill will get passed.
 
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