I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 17 

To protect the right to obtain firearms for security, and to use firearms 

in defense of self, family, or home, and to provide for the enforcement 

of such right. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 6, 2009 

Mr. BARTLETT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To protect the right to obtain firearms for security, and 

to use firearms in defense of self, family, or home, and 

to provide for the enforcement of such right. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Citizens’ Self-Defense 

5 Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Police cannot protect, and are not legally 

2 liable for failing to protect, individual citizens, as 

3 evidenced by the following: 

4 (A) The courts have consistently ruled that 

5 the police do not have an obligation to protect 

6 individuals, only the public in general. For ex7 ample, in Warren v. District of Columbia Met8 ropolitan Police Department, 444 A.2d 1 (D.C. 

9 App. 1981), the court stated: ‘‘[C]ourts have 

10 without exception concluded that when a mu11 nicipality or other governmental entity under12 takes to furnish police services, it assumes a 

13 duty only to the public at large and not to indi14 vidual members of the community.’’. 

15 (B) Former Florida Attorney General Jim 

16 Smith told Florida legislators that police re17 sponded to only 200,000 of 700,000 calls for 

18 help to Dade County authorities. 

19 (C) The United States Department of Jus20 tice found that, in 1989, there were 168,881 

21 crimes of violence for which police had not re22 sponded within 1 hour. 

23 (2) Citizens frequently must use firearms to de24 fend themselves, as evidenced by the following: 


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1 (A) Every year, more than 2,400,000 peo2 ple in the United States use a gun to defend 

3 themselves against criminals—or more than 

4 6,500 people a day. This means that, each year, 

5 firearms are used 60 times more often to pro6 tect the lives of honest citizens than to take 

7 lives. 

8 (B) Of the 2,400,000 self-defense cases, 

9 more than 192,000 are by women defending 

10 themselves against sexual abuse. 

11 (C) Of the 2,400,000 times citizens use 

12 their guns to defend themselves every year, 92 

13 percent merely brandish their gun or fire a 

14 warning shot to scare off their attackers. Less 

15 than 8 percent of the time, does a citizen kill 

16 or wound his or her attacker. 

17 (3) Law-abiding citizens, seeking only to pro18 vide for their families’ defense, are routinely pros19 ecuted for brandishing or using a firearm in self-de20 fense. For example: 

21 (A) In 1986, Don Bennett of Oak Park, Il22 linois, was shot at by 2 men who had just sto23 len $1,200 in cash and jewelry from his subur24 ban Chicago service station. The police arrested 


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1 Bennett for violating Oak Park’s handgun ban. 

2 The police never caught the actual criminals. 

3 (B) Ronald Biggs, a resident of Goldsboro, 

4 North Carolina, was arrested for shooting an 

5 intruder in 1990. Four men broke into Biggs’ 

6 residence one night, ransacked the home and 

7 then assaulted him with a baseball bat. When 

8 Biggs attempted to escape through the back 

9 door, the group chased him and Biggs turned 

10 and shot one of the assailants in the stomach. 

11 Biggs was arrested and charged with assault 

12 with a deadly weapon—a felony. His assailants 

13 were charged with misdemeanors. 

14 (C) Don Campbell of Port Huron, Michi15 gan, was arrested, jailed, and criminally 

16 charged after he shot a criminal assailant in 

17 1991. The thief had broken into Campbell’s 

18 store and attacked him. The prosecutor plea19 bargained with the assailant and planned to use 

20 him to testify against Campbell for felonious 

21 use of a firearm. Only after intense community 

22 pressure did the prosecutor finally drop the 

23 charges. 

24 (4) The courts have granted immunity from 

25 prosecution to police officers who use firearms in the 


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1 line of duty. Similarly, law-abiding citizens who use 

2 firearms to protect themselves, their families, and 

3 their homes against violent felons should not be sub4 ject to lawsuits by the violent felons who sought to 

5 victimize them. 

6 SEC. 3. RIGHT TO OBTAIN FIREARMS FOR SECURITY, AND 

7 TO USE FIREARMS IN DEFENSE OF SELF, 

8 FAMILY, OR HOME; ENFORCEMENT. 

9 (a) REAFFIRMATION OF RIGHT.—A person not pro10 hibited from receiving a firearm by Section 922(g) of title 

11 18, United States Code, shall have the right to obtain fire12 arms for security, and to use firearms— 

13 (1) in defense of self or family against a rea14 sonably perceived threat of imminent and unlawful 

15 infliction of serious bodily injury; 

16 (2) in defense of self or family in the course of 

17 the commission by another person of a violent felony 

18 against the person or a member of the person’s fam19 ily; and 

20 (3) in defense of the person’s home in the 

21 course of the commission of a felony by another per22 son. 

23 (b) FIREARM DEFINED.—As used in subsection (a), 

24 the term ‘‘firearm’’ means— 


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1 (1) a shotgun (as defined in section 921(a)(5) 

2 of title 18, United States Code); 

3 (2) a rifle (as defined in section 921(a)(7) of 

4 title 18, United States Code); or 

5 (3) a handgun (as defined in section 10 of Pub6 lic Law 99–408). 

7 (c) ENFORCEMENT OF RIGHT.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—A person whose right under 

9 subsection (a) is violated in any manner may bring 

10 an action in any United States district court against 

11 the United States, any State, or any person for 

12 damages, injunctive relief, and such other relief as 

13 the court deems appropriate. 

14 (2) AUTHORITY TO AWARD A REASONABLE AT15 TORNEY’S FEE.—In an action brought under para16 graph (1), the court, in its discretion, may allow the 

17 prevailing plaintiff a reasonable attorney’s fee as 

18 part of the costs. 

19 (3) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—An action may 

20 not be brought under paragraph (1) after the 5-year 

21 period that begins with the date the violation de22 scribed in paragraph (1) is discovered. 

Æ 


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