I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2252 

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 

JUNE 21, 2011 

Mr. BARTLETT (for himself, Mr. SIMPSON, Mr. POSEY, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. LATTA, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. HALL, Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee, 

Mr. MARCHANT, Mr. MICA, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. ROSS of Florida, Mrs. 

MILLER of Michigan, Mr. FORBES, Mr. BROOKS, Mr. GINGREY of Georgia, Mr. FLORES, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, and Mrs. SCHMIDT) 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 2011’’. 

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 2001, a grand jury had to rule on 

22 the case of 2 brothers that used firearms to 

23 protect their lives and their livelihood for their 

24 involvement in a fatal shooting in Reisterstown, 

25 Maryland. The grand jury decided not to press 


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1 criminal charges. The brothers, at the time, had 

2 encountered several burglaries at their concrete 

3 business. The brothers spent the night in their 

4 warehouse armed with shotguns. One night at 

5 1:00 in the morning the burglars returned and 

6 the brothers shot and killed 1 burglar and in7 jured 2 of the others. The 2 injured men were 

8 charged with burglary and 2 others were 

9 charged with burglary in connection with bur10 glaries that had occurred in a previous month 

11 at the brother’s warehouse. Burglary is known 

12 to be a violent crime and the brothers were par13 ticularly worried when they realized a gun of 

14 theirs had been stolen in a previous break-in. 

15 (B) In 2008, a Waukegan, Illinois, store 

16 clerk shot and injured a robber. According to 

17 news reports, there was potential the clerk 

18 could face criminal charges, even though he 

19 acted in self-defense. The store clerk did not 

20 have a firearm owner’s identification card and 

21 would be charged with a State firearms viola22 tion. Additionally, Illinois law does not allow 

23 employees to carry a gun in a place of business. 

24 Rather, the law only allows individuals to carry 


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1 a gun in a place of business if that individual 

2 is the owner or has proprietary interest. 

3 (C) In September 2009, a Lithonia home4 owner from Dekalb County, Georgia, was 

5 charged with aggravated assault after he shot 

6 someone who was trying to knock down the 

7 door of his home as an attempt to break into 

8 the residence. According to the neighbors, there 

9 had been trouble in the neighborhood before. A 

10 police spokesperson said the homeowner was 

11 charged because the robber was technically not 

12 inside the home. The suspected robber was 

13 charged with attempted burglary. 

14 (D) In January 2004, Wilmette, Illinois, 

15 police charged and convicted a homeowner with 

16 misdemeanors for owning 2 handguns and vio17 lating the village handgun ban ordinance. The 

18 homeowner was also faced with a potential 

19 $750 fine for failing to renew his Illinois fire20 arm owner’s identification card. These charges 

21 were brought after he shot a home intruder. 

22 The resident stated, ‘‘My Plan A is to call 911 

23 and keep the family upstairs . . . But my Plan 

24 B is to have a loaded firearm and put a bullet 

25 in the intruder.’’ The intruder entered the 


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1 house 2 times, once through a dog door and the 

2 second time with a stolen house key. The home3 owner had just put his children to bed when his 

4 security system was set off. The homeowner 

5 went downstairs and confronted and shot the 

6 intruder. The intruder jumped through a win7 dow and stole the family’s car to go to the hos8 pital. The intruder was charged with 2 counts 

9 of residential burglary and 1 count of posses10 sion of a stolen vehicle. 

11 (4) The courts have granted immunity from 

12 prosecution to police officers who use firearms in the 

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

14 firearms to protect themselves, their families, and 

15 their homes against violent felons should not be sub16 ject to lawsuits by the violent felons who sought to 

17 victimize them. 

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

19 TO USE FIREARMS IN DEFENSE OF SELF, 

20 FAMILY, OR HOME; ENFORCEMENT. 

21 (a) REAFFIRMATION OF RIGHT.—A person not pro22 hibited from receiving a firearm by section 922(g) of title 

23 18, United States Code, shall have the right to obtain fire24 arms for security, and to use firearms— 


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1 (1) in defense of self or family against a rea2 sonably perceived threat of imminent and unlawful 

3 infliction of serious bodily injury; 

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

5 the commission by another person of a violent felony 

6 against the person or a member of the person’s fam7 ily; and 

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

9 course of the commission of a felony by another per10 son. 

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

12 the term ‘‘firearm’’ means— 

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

14 of title 18, United States Code); 

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

16 title 18, United States Code); or 

17 (3) a handgun (as defined in section 10 of Pub18 lic Law 99–408). 

19 (c) ENFORCEMENT OF RIGHT.— 

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

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

22 an action in any United States district court against 

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

24 damages, injunctive relief, and such other relief as 

25 the court deems appropriate. 


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1 (2) AUTHORITY TO AWARD A REASONABLE AT2 TORNEY’S FEE.—In an action brought under para3 graph (1), the court, in its discretion, may allow the 

4 prevailing plaintiff a reasonable attorney’s fee as 

5 part of the costs. 

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

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

8 period that begins with the date the violation de9 scribed in paragraph (1) is discovered. 

Æ 


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