JOHNSTOWN — “Laws that forbid the carrying of arms ... disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes ...

“Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.”

– Thomas Jefferson



Raise your hand if you were at all surprised when tax-and-spend, liberal “Filthadelphia” Democrat Gov. Ed Rendell vetoed the Castle Doctrine bill. This legislation had passed 45-4 in the Senate and 161-35 in the House. 

The Castle Doctrine bill was crafted to expand self-defense rights outside the home. Under current law, the use of deadly force is not justifiable to protect oneself when one can safely retreat, unless a person is attacked in his or her dwelling or workplace.

I am sure the drug dealers, thugs and thieves really appreciate Rendell looking out for their welfare.

“I support the Castle Doctrine,” Rendell told reporters. “I support the right to use deadly force on an intruder in a person’s home. I think that’s in a totally different category.

“What this would do is expand the Castle Doctrine to outside the home, to a city street, for example, and eliminate the principle of law that we’ve had since English common law: The duty to retreat.”

Is Rendell French?

Remember, folks, according to Rendell, if your family is getting violently car-jacked or being violently assaulted by thugs in a mall parking lot over the X-box you just purchased, your duty is to surrender and retreat.

“It promotes violence first,” Rendell continued in explaining his veto. “If we can help keep violence down, if we can protect the sanctity of life, we should. We should not have a basis that you can shoot first.”

Huh?

The sanctity of the thugs’ lives? We should be more concerned about them?

What’s a poor, frightened liberal to do?

I couldn’t agree more with Rep. Scott Perry (R-York), who said, “The governor is really out of step with literally all of Pennsylvania, and this bill had strong bipartisan support ... It’s not about protecting your home. It’s about protecting yourself or your family against attack.”

Perry, a lieutenant colonel in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard and an Iraq war veteran, said the bill would be reintroduced in 2011 and that incoming Gov. Tom Corbett has already said he would sign it – as he should.

The fact is, for the past two terms, this  governor has been hell-bent on chipping away at law-abiding citizens’ right to protect themselves and their property.

Rendell’s liberal campaign has also included limiting sales to one handgun a month to law-abiding citizens.

During his eight long years as governor, Rendell has never seemed to be able to take off the cesspool-covered glasses he looked through while mayor of Philadelphia.

As a result, his vision of the rest of the state has never never been clear.

The new governor and legislators should really think about giving Philadelphia to New Jersey. That way, the rest of the state would not be tethered to a big city that has surrendered to the thugs.

Let’s decide now never to elect another Philadelphia mayor as governor. OK? 

They just do not understand life outside of the sewer.

Our Founding Fathers understood the importance of our right to bear arms and to protect our families and property at all times and in all places.

Out-of-touch Rendell should just retreat back to the Philly swamp from which he crawled.



 Robin L. Quillon is the publisher of The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at rquillon@tribdem.com.