I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 648
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 
FEBRUARY 5, 2003
Mr. WILSON of South Carolina 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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Citizens’ Self-Defense 
Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Police cannot protect, and are not legally 
liable for failing to protect, individual citizens, as 
evidenced by the following: 
(A) The courts have consistently ruled that 
the police do not have an obligation to protect 
individuals, only the public in general. For ex-
ample, in Warren v. District of Columbia Met-
ropolitan Police Department, 444 A.2d 1 (D.C. 
App. 1981), the court stated: ‘‘[C]ourts have 
without exception concluded that when a mu-
nicipality or other governmental entity under-
takes to furnish police services, it assumes a 
duty only to the public at large and not to indi-
vidual members of the community.’’. 
(B) Former Florida Attorney General Jim 
Smith told Florida legislators that police re-
sponded to only 200,000 of 700,000 calls for 
help to Dade County authorities. 
(C) The United States Department of Jus-
tice found that, in 1989, there were 168,881 
crimes of violence for which police had not re-
sponded within 1 hour. 
(2) Citizens frequently must use firearms to de-
fend themselves, as evidenced by the following:
(A) Every year, more than 2,400,000 peo-
ple in the United States use a gun to defend 
themselves against criminals—or more than 
6,500 people a day. This means that, each year, 
firearms are used 60 times more often to pro-
tect the lives of honest citizens than to take 
lives. 
(B) Of the 2,400,000 self-defense cases, 
more than 192,000 are by women defending 
themselves against sexual abuse. 
(C) Of the 2,400,000 times citizens use 
their guns to defend themselves every year, 92 
percent merely brandish their gun or fire a 
warning shot to scare off their attackers. Less 
than 8 percent of the time, does a citizen kill 
or wound his or her attacker. 
(3) Law-abiding citizens, seeking only to pro-
vide for their families’ defense, are routinely pros-
ecuted for brandishing or using a firearm in self-
defense. For example: 
(A) In 1986, Don Bennett of Oak Park, Il-
linois, was shot at by 2 men who had just sto-
len $1,200 in cash and jewelry from his subur-
ban Chicago service station. The police arrested
Bennett for violating Oak Park’s handgun ban. 
The police never caught the actual criminals. 
(B) Ronald Biggs, a resident of Goldsboro, 
North Carolina, was arrested for shooting an 
intruder in 1990. Four men broke into Biggs’ 
residence one night, ransacked the home and 
then assaulted him with a baseball bat. When 
Biggs attempted to escape through the back 
door, the group chased him and Biggs turned 
and shot one of the assailants in the stomach. 
Biggs was arrested and charged with assault 
with a deadly weapon—a felony. His assailants 
were charged with misdemeanors. 
(C) Don Campbell of Port Huron, Michi-
gan, was arrested, jailed, and criminally 
charged after he shot a criminal assailant in 
1991. The thief had broken into Campbell’s 
store and attacked him. The prosecutor plea-
bargained with the assailant and planned to use 
him to testify against Campbell for felonious 
use of a firearm. Only after intense community 
pressure did the prosecutor finally drop the 
charges. 
(4) The courts have granted immunity from 
prosecution to police officers who use firearms in the
line of duty. Similarly, law-abiding citizens who use 
firearms to protect themselves, their families, and 
their homes against violent felons should not be sub-
ject to lawsuits by the violent felons who sought to 
victimize them. 
SEC. 3. RIGHT TO OBTAIN FIREARMS FOR SECURITY, AND 
TO USE FIREARMS IN DEFENSE OF SELF, 
FAMILY, OR HOME; ENFORCEMENT. 
(a) REAFFIRMATION OF RIGHT.—A person not pro-
hibited from receiving a firearm by Section 922(g) of title 
18, United States Code, shall have the right to obtain fire-
arms for security, and to use firearms—
(1) in defense of self or family against a rea-
sonably perceived threat of imminent and unlawful 
infliction of serious bodily injury; 
(2) in defense of self or family in the course of 
the commission by another person of a violent felony 
against the person or a member of the person’s fam-
ily; and 
(3) in defense of the person’s home in the 
course of the commission of a felony by another per-
son. 
(b) FIREARM DEFINED.—As used in subsection (a), 
the term ‘‘firearm’’ means—
(1) a shotgun (as defined in section 921(a)(5) 
of title 18, United States Code); 
(2) a rifle (as defined in section 921(a)(7) of 
title 18, United States Code); or 
(3) a handgun (as defined in section 10 of Pub-
lic Law 99–408). 
(c) ENFORCEMENT OF RIGHT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—A person whose right under 
subsection (a) is violated in any manner may bring 
an action in any United States district court against 
the United States, any State, or any person for 
damages, injunctive relief, and such other relief as 
the court deems appropriate. 
(2) AUTHORITY TO AWARD A REASONABLE AT-
TORNEY’S FEE.—In an action brought under para-
graph (1), the court, in its discretion, may allow the 
prevailing plaintiff a reasonable attorney’s fee as 
part of the costs. 
(3) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—An action may 
not be brought under paragraph (1) after the 5-year 
period that begins with the date the violation de-
scribed in paragraph (1) is discovered.
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