Governor Greg Abbott Stands Up for Castle Doctrine When House Democrats are Trying to Destroy It

Although Democrats were denied a majority in the Texas State House, they still desire to make a stink during the 2021 legislative session.

Governor Greg Abbott made it clear on December 9, 2020 that Texas will respect castle doctrine.

He declared that Texas “won’t force homeowners to retreat” when criminals assault them. 

Castle doctrine refers to a law that allows homeowners to exercise their property rights by using deadly force against intruders. They have no obligation to retreat in the case where they believe that their life is in danger. 

According to Texas law, a person can use lethal force provided that the intruder has:

(A) unlawfully and with force entered, or was attempting to enter unlawfully and with force, the actor’s occupied habitation, vehicle, or place of business or employment; (B) unlawfully and with force removed, or was attempting to remove unlawfully and with force, the actor from the actor’s habitation, vehicle, or place of business or employment; or (C) was committing or attempting to commit aggravated kidnapping, murder, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated robbery.

According to a Breitbart News report, Democrat State Representative Terry Meza recently filed a bill to greatly weaken Texas castle doctrine. In a tweet, Meza attempted to rationalize the passage of her bill, “What my bill would do if passed, would require a homeowner to exhaust the potential of safely retreating into their habitation before using deadly force in defense of themselves or their property.”

In response, Abbott tweeted, “Let me be clear. The Castle Doctrine will not be reduced. We won’t force Texas homeowners to retreat.”

Abbott noted that in the political environment of “crazy ‘defund police’ ideas, homeowners need to protect themselves now more than ever.”

Texas remains one of the most Second Amendment friendly states in the Union. Republicans at least recognize they must respect the will of the state’s red-blooded gun owner base.

Hopefully, the political class gets the memo and actually bothers to pass Constitutional Carry, which the grassroots base has demanded for the past decade.