‘Stand Your Ground’ Expansion Bill Advances
APRIL 9TH, 2019 
MEGAN DIVENTI INDIANA
Indiana’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ law could be expanding if a bill moving through the Statehouse becomes law.
House Bill 1284 was created in response to a 2017 case in Indianapolis where a woman shot and killed a man who was attacking a police officer outside her home. Prosecutors say what she did was legal, but she was then sued by the man’s family.
The bill is one step closer to becoming law and if that happens cases like this would turn out much differently in Indiana.
“I need to do something to protect me and my kids,†says Mary Ellen Johnson, gun owner.
For Johnson, a scary incident two years ago led her to become a gun owner.
“I saw a man in my window and a few days later his drivers license was by my door and it was bent up like he had tried to get in,†says Johnson. “I was scared to death to come home at night from work. I was scared to having my kids there thinking that maybe he had gotten in the home.â€
Indiana law currently provides immunity for justifiable use of force for people protecting themselves or their property. It also protects from criminal penalties, but not civil.
But this bill would change that by keeping people from facing civil lawsuits in these types of cases.
“It is scary to think about having to use your weapon and possibly getting sued, but it’s scarier to be killed or anything can happen so I think it’ll make people feel a little bit easier about if they have to get in that type of situation,†says Johnson.
The bill cleared the Senate Monday 42-7 and even though most lawmakers support the legislation many think it’s going too far.
“Some people I know that they’re trying to portray the opposition they are trying to portray it as vigilantism it will allow that,†says Rep. Jim Lucas, (R) Indiana. “It will allow people to just shoot and ask questions later, but nothing could be further from the truth.â€
As for Johnson, she says defending her home is important.
“Anybody that feels like they can’t use their firearm in an unsafe situation may have a little more confidence now to protect themselves,†says Lucas.
“My hope is that the bill does what it was designed to do and protect Hoosiers from frivolous lawsuits in a justified use of force,†says Rep. Lucas.
Lucas says he anticipates the bill to go to the conference committee later this week or early next week.
comments
