A General Assembly study committee is having a hearing today on what to do about the Indiana Supreme Court's hotly denounced ruling that the state's castle doctrine doesn't apply to police acting in good faith, even if they aren't acting lawfully. A Democratic lawmaker reacts a little hysterically:
Sen. Tim Lanane, D-Anderson, is a member of the subcommittee and said Monday he's hopeful that some of the initial fervor about the decision has died down. He wants the group to be cautious about changing the law.
"We really need to weigh the consequences of what do we do here," Lanane said. "Do we pass a statute that says it's OK to fight if the police if you think in good faith they're entering illegally? Then we say we'll figure out the truth later when the gun play has died down."
I don't think too many lawmakers are really considering a law that would give us the green light to have shootouts with police, even when we think they're acting without legal justification. The idea is to be able to "resist" them. There's a whole lot of space between standing in front of the door with your arms crossed and opening fire with your Glock. Granted, though, lawmakers need to be very careful in their legislative language if they try to craft something narrowing the court's ruling.
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A friend of mine lost several teeth to a police beating after brandishing his pistol at an intruder kicking his home door down. It turned out to be the WV state police, and despite my friend's repeated warnings, they never identified themselves as cops (they had the wrong address, which, as you know, happens pretty often). My buddy immediately dropped his gun when he saw the uniforms, but it didn't spare him a pistol-whipping. His lawyer warned him against suing, saying he'd be found dead before the case got to court. As you can imagine, I have mixed feelings about this.