CRIMINALS ARE PROTECTED BY GUN CONTROL LAWS

ROBIN L. QUILLON |
Rendell’s veto sides with thugs

Robin L. Quillon The Tribune-Democrat Mon Dec 06, 2010, 10:03 AM EST

JOHNSTOWN — “Laws that forbid the carrying of arms ...
disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined
to commit crimes ...

“Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better
for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides,
for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence
than an armed man.”

– Thomas Jefferson



Raise your hand if you were at all surprised when tax-and-spend,
liberal Democrat Gov. Ed Rendell vetoed the Castle Doctrine bill.
This legislation had passed 45-4 in the Senate and 161-35 in the House.

The Castle Doctrine bill was crafted to expand self-defense rights
outside the home. Under current law, the use of deadly force is
not justifiable to protect oneself when one can safely retreat,
unless a person is attacked in his or her dwelling or workplace.

I am sure the drug dealers, thugs and thieves really appreciate
Rendell looking out for their welfare.

“I support the Castle Doctrine,” Rendell told reporters. “I support
the right to use deadly force on an intruder in a person’s home.
I think that’s in a totally different category.

“What this would do is expand the Castle Doctrine to outside the home,
to a city street, for example, and eliminate the principle of law
that we’ve had since English common law: The duty to retreat.”

Is Rendell French?

Remember, folks, according to Rendell, if your family is getting
violently car-jacked or being violently assaulted by thugs in a mall
parking lot over the X-box you just purchased, your duty is to
surrender and retreat.

“It promotes violence first,” Rendell continued in explaining his veto.
“If we can help keep violence down, if we can protect the sanctity
of life, we should. We should not have a basis that you can shoot first.”

Huh?

The sanctity of the thugs’ lives?
We should be more concerned about them?

What’s a poor, frightened liberal to do?

I couldn’t agree more with Rep. Scott Perry (R-York), who said,
“The governor is really out of step with literally all of Pennsylvania,
and this bill had strong bipartisan support ... It’s not about
protecting your home. It’s about protecting yourself or your
family against attack.”

Perry, a lieutenant colonel in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard
and an Iraq war veteran, said the bill would be reintroduced
in 2011 and that incoming Gov. Tom Corbett has already said
he would sign it – as he should.

The fact is, for the past two terms, this governor has been
hell-bent on chipping away at law-abiding citizens’ right to
protect themselves and their property.

Rendell’s liberal campaign has also included limiting sales to one
handgun a month to law-abiding citizens.

The new governor and legislators should really think about giving
Philadelphia to New Jersey. That way, the rest of the state
would not be tethered to a big city that has surrendered to the thugs.

Let’s decide now never to elect another Philadelphia mayor
as governor. OK?

Our Founding Fathers understood the importance of our right
to bear arms and to protect our families and property at all times
and in all places.

Out-of-touch Rendell should just retreat back to the Philly swamp
from which he crawled.



Robin L. Quillon is the publisher of The Tribune-Democrat.
He can be reached at [email protected].