(Laurie Johnson, KUHF Public Radio)
In the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida, one Houston lawmaker wants to change the law that allows people to use deadly force to protect themselves without trying to run away.
The law has always allowed citizens to defend themselves if they are threatened with death or grievous bodily injury.
But in 2007, the Texas legislature expanded the Castle Doctrine, after aggressive lobbying by the National Rifle Association, so that it applies to people when they are in a vehicle, workplace or business and it says they are not required to try to run away before resorting to deadly force. State Representative Garnet Coleman says he voted against it.
“The concept of shoot first and ask questions later…basically under the old law if somebody was in your house that applied. The question is, do we want that in any place and everywhere and with only a presumption that someone’s about to hurt you?”
For Coleman, the answer is no. (See more at KUHF Public Radio)
OTHER HEADLINES:
- Housing Authority Short on Cash, Delays Rankin Severance (Houston Chronicle)
- Kidnapped Boy, 8, to Remain in State Custody (KTRK 13 News)
- Writing Test Confuses Students; Teachers Told to Intervene (Houston Chronicle)
- Facing Bullies, Girls Find Strength in Numbers (KRIV 26 News)
- Complaint Alleges Houston-Based Doctor Improperly Gave Drugs to Child (Houston Chronicle)
- Isabel Brown Wilson, Noted Philanthropist, Dies (Houston Chronicle)
- Texas Farmers Watered Crops Knowing They Wouldn’t Grow (Texas Tribune)
- Rep. Lamar Smith Says New ICE Detention Policy Makes Incarceration a ‘Holiday’ (Houston Chronicle)
OPINIONS ON THE NEWS:
- Detention Is No Holiday (Edwidge Danticat, New York Times)
“The “Holiday on ICE” hearing may just be a political stunt, but the message behind it is dangerous; it suggests that the 30,000 vulnerable people in our jails and detention centers should have little right to proper medical care, that their very lives are luxuries, and that it is not our responsibility to protect them.” - BP fines should pay to fix spill damage (Editorial, Houston Chronicle)
“The RESTORE Act, makes the sensible proposal that 80 percent of the money from the Clean Water Act fines related to the Deepwater spill would go toward restoring the Gulf’s ecosystem and economy. The damage was done to the Gulf. So it seems only right that the bulk of the fines would go toward making amends there.”