West Virginia passed the "castle Doctorine"!

[MedGrl]

A friend of minesent me an email a few minutes ago. The contents of which I am posting below.



"West Virginia Senate Passes Castle Doctrine Legislation!



On Friday, February 9, Senate Bill 197, sponsored by Senator Shirley Love (D-11), passed the State Senate unanimously and is now headed to the House of Delegates.

SB 197, "Castle Doctrine" legislation, which would clarify that reasonable force may be used to protect one's self, real and personal property, and the person and property of another. The bill also provides that a person who uses reasonable force against an intruder shall be immune from civil and criminal liability for injuries or death of the intruder. "

 

[El Tejon]

Civil immunity has nothing to do with the Castle Doctrine? Where does this legal spoonerism originate?

 

[pacodelahoya]

West Virginia is looking better and better to me.

Though we have good gun laws overall in Pa, the rest of the politics are horrible.

Do they have open carry in WV?

 

[rono]

Yes we have open carry in WV. I'm glad this bill is finally moving. Hopefully the reciprocity bill will move next!

 

[Crimp]

Senate Bill No. 197

§55-7-22. Civil immunity to persons resisting criminal activities.
(a) Any person who unlawfully enters upon the property of another, enters into the motor vehicle of another or enters upon any location where another has a right to be for purposes of engaging in criminal conduct assumes the risk for any injury, including, but not limited to, death, caused to him or her by the reasonable and proportionate acts of the owner, or his agent or another in resisting the commission of the criminal conduct.
(b) The use of reasonable and proportionate force for the purpose of protecting one's self, his or her property or the person or property of another as contemplated by the provisions of subsection (a) of this section shall constitute a full and complete defense to any action at law based upon the use of such force.
(c) The provisions of this section do not apply to the creation of a hazardous or dangerous condition on the property designed to prevent criminal conduct or cause injury to a person engaging in criminal conduct.
_____

(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize the use of proportionate force by a person in any place the person has a legal right to be against an intruder or attacker. The bill also provides that the use of proportionate force is a full defense, civilly or criminally.

Yep. Great news! I've been writing all kinds of letters to the legislators about this. It looks like a good year for WV's Castle law.

Also, there's other bills in progress, SB-102 which is the same as HB-2564 and similar to HB-2264 and HB-2734 which addresses deadly force and protection from civil actions. It seems they only apply to homes, property and automobiles and not to "any location where another has a right to be" as is in SB-197. Adding this phrase has been one of my major purposes in writing the legislators.

Let's hope the house has sense enough to pass 197!

 

[LAR-15]

Great news!

 

[Stevie-Ray]

Wonderful news! My state also had the good sense to pass a similar law a while ago.

 

[OLD DOMENION]

"Castle Doctorine"

Good deal!!!
Virginia's house just pased it, also.

 

[Leatherneck]

May be good news, but I get nervous about "reasonable and proportionate force' language. Who decides? Also, there's no specific mention of deadly force being included. Just imagine what some over-zealous prosecutor could make of it.

TC

 

[Steve N]

I agree with Leatherneck. Who decides what is "reasonable and proportionate force"? If the BG waves a baseball bat, is the victims only reasonable and proportionate force response to wave a baseball bat too? Or can he pull a knife or a gun? Is there going to be a test whereby the value of the personal property involved is going to be factored into the appropriateness of the responding force?

 

[mrb302]

I pass through WV about 2 or 3 times a year to visit family in Ohio. When I get close to the VA / WV border, I pull over, unload and case my concealed carry. When I get to Ohio, I pull over and load up.

While I applaud the moves that are being made... What's going on with the lack of reciprosity?

 

[Aguila Blanca]

Doesn't look so wonderful to me.

 

[rono]

While I applaud the moves that are being made... What's going on with the lack of reciprosity?

There's a bill for automatic reciprocity. The governor hasn't signed any reciprocity that I know of. Maybe it will light a fire....
http://www.wvcdl.org/ has info on it.

 

[Crimp]

"Doesn't look so wonderful to me."
--Aguila Blanca

Care to expand on that, Aguila?

 

[wolf_from_wv]

I wonder if we could get the "Shouldn't have to run" picture to the House of Delegates...

 

[silverbird]

"WV, Wild, and Wonderful"........how can it border with Maryland?