Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site kontron.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!whuxlm!harpo!decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!trwrb!scgvaxd!pertec!kontron!cramer
From: cramer@kontron.UUCP (Clayton Cramer)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: MAKE MY DAY!
Message-ID: <125@kontron.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 25-Apr-85 21:14:14 EDT
Article-I.D.: kontron.125
Posted: Thu Apr 25 21:14:14 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 28-Apr-85 09:08:35 EDT
References: <1297@drusd.UUCP>
Organization: Kontron Electronics, Irvine, CA
Lines: 31

> 
> The Colorado Senate approved the "MAKE MY DAY!" bill on Wednesday and returned
> it to the lower house for minor corrections.  In substance, the bill requires
> that the prosecutor prove that the resident was *not* in a life threatening sit-
> uation when she or he used lethal force to subdue an intruder in her or his res-
> idence.  The bill is thought to have enough support to overide any veto.
> 
> Demand is already picking up for those no-tresspassing signs used by ranchers
> a year or so ago during the cattle mutilation incidents.  They read:
> 
> 	TRESPASSERS WILL BE SHOT! - SURVIVORS WILL BE PROSECUTED!
> 
> It will be interesting to see if the burglary rate decreases once the thieves
> discover that the justice system can no longer protect them.
> 
> - Phil

Since January 1st, California law has been quite similar to the so-called
"Make my day!" bill in Colorado.  Until this year, if someone broke into your
home, there was no legal presumption that they intended you great bodily
harm.  As a result, if you shot a burglar who broke in, you might well have 
to prove to a court that you had reason to fear for your safety.  (This seems
like a pretty crackpot idea to me.)  The law now says that the presumption is
that someone who breaks into your home intends you great bodily harm.  The
courts now have to *prove* that you did *not* have reason to fear to convict
you of a crime.

I haven't read a detailed account of the proposed Colorado law (newspapers 
being long on analysis, and short on facts), but if it is similar to 
California law, I don't see a problem with it, unless you feel that burglars
should be protected from lethal force.