Maryland Senate Committee to Consider Castle Doctrine Next Week!

Next Thursday, March 7, the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee will hold a public hearing on SB 518, sponsored by State Senator Nancy Jacobs (R-34).  The bill, which has strong bipartisan support from 14 co-sponsors, makes much-needed reforms to Maryland's self-defense laws.

The proposed reforms to Maryland's self-defense laws would accomplish three things:

- The bill would establish the presumption that a criminal who unlawfully enters or intrudes into your home or occupied vehicle is there to cause death or great bodily harm, and you may therefore use any manner of force, including deadly force, against that person.

- The bill would state that you have no duty to retreat if you are attacked in a place where you have a right to be present, if you are not the original aggressor, and if you are not engaged in criminal activity.

- The bill would protect persons using force authorized by law from lawsuits filed by injured criminal attackers or their families.

The members of the Judicial Proceedings Committee need to hear from you. 

Please contact the Committee members and voice your support for SB 518.  Respectfully urge the Committee members that self-defense is a fundamental right, and law-abiding citizens should be able to exercise that right without the fear of criminal prosecution. 

Be sure to tell them that in the past two years, 16 other states have passed this critical legislation, and that Maryland should do so as well. 

The contact phone number and members of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee are listed below!

Committee phone number:

(410) 841-3623 Annapolis/Balitmore area or (301) 858-3623 Washington, D.C. area.

Committee Members:

Brian Frosh (D-16) Chair

Lisa Gladden (D-41), Vice-Chair

Jim Brochin (D-42)

Jennie Forehand (D-17)

Larry Haines (R-5)

Nancy Jacobs (R-34)

Alexander Mooney (R-3)

C. Anthony Muse (D-26)

Jamie Raskin (D-20)

Bryan Simonaire (R-31)

Norman Stone, Jr. (D-6)

Please make this important phone call today!

To find further contact information or help identifying your legislators
please use the "Write Your Representative" feature found at www.NRAILA.org.