GOAL Calls on Legislature to Come to the Aid of a Heroic Citizen

[GOAL]

GOAL Calls on Legislature to Come to the Aid of a Heroic Citizen

By now the world has heard the news of the lawful defense shooting that took place at the Massachusetts General Hospital clinic in Boston. In a case of true American selflessness, Massachusetts citizen Paul Langone ran towards danger to come to the aid of what was probably a complete stranger. In doing so, Mr. Langone likely saved the life of Psychiatrist Astrid Desrosiers who was being repeatedly stabbed by patient turned assailant, Jay Carciero.

In what was most certainly a case of lawful defense, Mr. Langone found himself in a situation that called on deadly force in order to save Ms. Desrosiers and to protect the lives and safety of other clinic staff and visitors. While there is much debate in the media and amongst the general public as to why Mr. Langone was there and why he was carrying a gun, the simple answer for everyone involved is that they are lucky he was.

What may be the greatest tragedy to yet take place regarding this story of a citizen hero is his exposure to a civil suit from the assailant’s family. While we are not aware that such a suit has been filed, the danger exists. Under current Massachusetts law there are no protections from such suits for citizens who use force to protect themselves or others. However, the Massachusetts legislature has an opportunity to save this hero from such a suit.

Gun Owners’ Action League (GOAL) currently has a bill before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary in the State House to address this matter. Senate Bill #1580, “An Act Relative to the Common Defense”, was filed this legislative session to protect citizens who find themselves in a situation that requires the use of force to defend themselves or others.

“It is clear enough to everyone that we live in a state where self defense is frowned upon and even discouraged,” said Jim Wallace Executive Director of Gun Owners’ Action League. “However, when such a lawful action of defense takes place it is unforgiveable that the Commonwealth would allow a law to exist where an assailant, or his family, is allowed to sue a defender. Just as Mr. Langone risked his life to come to the aid of other citizens, we now must come to his aid.”

S.1580 would provide specific language that would clearly define what an act of lawful defense is. It would also provide protection to citizens who have acted in a lawful defense act from civil suits regarding the death or injuries to an assailant.

GOAL urges all Massachusetts citizens to come to the aid of this hero by contacting their legislator and ask them to immediately move on S.1580 “An Act Relative to the Common Defense”. Citizens can obtain information on their legislators at: http://www.mass.gov/legis/city_town.htm

S.1580 AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE COMMON DEFENSE. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter 278: Section 8A. Killing or injuring a person defense of self or others;

Section 8A. It shall be an act of lawful defense if a person, who is an occupant of a dwelling or in any place that they have a right to be, used deadly force, or less than deadly force, if he or she acted in the reasonable belief that an assailant was about to inflict great bodily injury or death upon themselves or upon another person who also had a right to be in the location. There shall be no duty on a person to retreat from any place that they have a right to be. An act of lawful defense as outlined in this section shall not be cause for arrest or prosecution. Further, an act of lawful defense under this section shall not be cause for the revocation of a license issued under sections, 122, 123, 129B or 131 of Chapter 140.

SECTION 2. Chapter 231: Section 85U. Death or injury to assailants; liability of defender

Section 85U. No person who has committed an act of lawful defense as outlined in section 8A of chapter 278 shall be held liable in an action for damages for death or injuries to an assailant.

 

[Half Cocked]

I hate to be the resident GOAL basher........but.........

Does GOAL have insight into this investigation that the rest of the world does not?

What if the circumstances are not as they appear?

GOAL should wait till all the facts come out before using Langone as the poster boy for CCW.

If things are not as they appear GOAL will again have some credibility issues.

Just my .02

For the record.... I am in favor of this so long as there is no proverbial wrench thrown into the investigation that we do not yet know about.

 

[Admin]

I hate to be the resident GOAL basher........but.........

Does GOAL have insight into this investigation that the rest of the world does not?

What if the circumstances are not as they appear?

GOAL should wait till all the facts come out before using Langone as the poster boy for CCW.

If things are not as they appear GOAL will again have some credibility issues.

Just my .02

For the record.... I am in favor of this so long as there is no proverbial wrench thrown into the investigation that we do not yet know about.

A woman was getting murdered by a nut job with a knife, Langone did whay any one of us would have done, he stopped the murder.

 

[Fixxah]

Half Cocked,

Clearly, Mr. Langone forced the assailant to slash and stab the doctor so he could break the door down and shoot him.

 

[Half Cocked]

A woman was getting murdered by a nut job with a knife, Langone did whay any one of us would have done, he stopped the murder.

Agreed.... so long as the Doctor confirms this........ and there is no more to the story........just sayin'

I agree with it and support everything as reported........ I also thought there was a little kid in the balloon a couple of weeks ago.......

I am only saying that I would wait a bit before making him a poster boy.....even though it appears that he is qualified and deserving of the title.

 

[Half Cocked]

Half Cocked,

Clearly, Mr. Langone forced his the assailant to slash and stab the doctor so he could break the door down and shoot him.

We blame anti's for knee jerk reactions to incidents without knowing the facts when it furthers their agenda....... GOAL should not fall into the same trap..... at least wait for the body to cool.....

 

[Mike S]

half cocked, seriously?

You're so predictable it's almost funny.

 

[freedom2012]

I just sent this to Senator Baddour who has represented the Merrimack Valley quite well. He has voted against the sales tax increase and been a staunch supporter of local business.

Hi Senator,

Normally I am talking to you about interchanges and golf charity events, but I would like to express my support and hopefully yours for Paul Langone, the gentlemen who had the unfortunate, yet heroic circumstance of having to dispatch a gentleman stabbing a doctor at MGH. It does appear, though the investigation is not complete, that Mr. Langone acted lawfully and saved the life of Astrid Desrosiers. Nobody would ever ask to be put in this position.

As someone who has known Paul and many members of his extended family for quite some time, it is not lip service to say this man has one of the biggest hearts I have ever encountered. Even if cleared of a criminal charge, which it looks like he will be, the civil system in Massachusetts offers him zero protection. This makes it a defacto crime to act in self defense from a civil point of view.

As a result of the lack of protection in the civil system, the Gun Owners Action League (GOAL) has presented a bill pending right now. It is the following:

S.1580 AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE COMMON DEFENSE. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter 278: Section 8A. Killing or injuring a person defense of self or others;

Section 8A. It shall be an act of lawful defense if a person, who is an occupant of a dwelling or in any place that they have a right to be, used deadly force, or less than deadly force, if he or she acted in the reasonable belief that an assailant was about to inflict great bodily injury or death upon themselves or upon another person who also had a right to be in the location. There shall be no duty on a person to retreat from any place that they have a right to be. An act of lawful defense as outlined in this section shall not be cause for arrest or prosecution. Further, an act of lawful defense under this section shall not be cause for the revocation of a license issued under sections, 122, 123, 129B or 131 of Chapter 140.

SECTION 2. Chapter 231: Section 85U. Death or injury to assailants; liability of defender

Section 85U. No person who has committed an act of lawful defense as outlined in section 8A of chapter 278 shall be held liable in an action for damages for death or injuries to an assailant.




Clearly, I ask you to support this bill not just for the sake of one man, but for the Paul Langones of the future, who inevitably will be forced to choose between life and death and if choosing life, they may be punished for it.

 

[seanc]

This is a law that needs to be put into place. Hopefully, it will be more broad than just this one narrow happening to protect people like MDs, nurses and EMTs that stop to help an accident victim they come upon as well..

And possibly some sort of provision that if somebody hurts themselves during the commission of a crime that they or their relatives are not able to profit from that as well.

 

[tele_mark]

Can't wait to see the response I get from Jen Flanagan.

 

[Admin]

Can't wait to see the response I get from Jen Flanagan.

here you go...

It some how ties to George Bush. We don't know how but we are working on linking him and blaming him for it.

 

[tele_mark]

She'll probably say she continues to support the sporting use of firearms.

 

[tele_mark]

She's my state senator.

 

[tele_mark]

You Google'd her, huh?

 

[EddieCoyle]

I don't like it when the antis use a tragedy to try to further their political agenda. I think it's transparent, cynical, and ham-fisted when they do.

While I agree with the content of Senate Bill #1580, I get a similar taste in my mouth when I read that press release.

ETA: I know you guys are fighting the good fight and trying to do the right thing, but just because the antis do it doesn't make it right.

 

[Half Cocked]

I don't like it when the antis use a tragedy to try to further their political agenda. I think it's transparent, cynical, and ham-fisted when they do.

While I agree with the content of Senate Bill #1580, I get a similar taste in my mouth when I read that press release.

ETA: I know you guys are fighting the good fight and trying to do the right thing, but just because the antis do it doesn't make it right.

+ 1

 

[clinotus]

I hate to be another one pouring water on the fire, but havent they already mentioned he was a 'special' police officer?

Beaten to the punch, we can't really rally behind him as the populace wont view him as a citizen but an officer doing what they assume officers are expected to do.

 

[News Shooter]

I'm torn about this. I agree with EC, but more from the angle that it really is too soon to use this guy as a poster boy. We all know what liberals do. The Globe most likely has a hit team looking for dirt on him. I would have waited until the dust settled at least.

 

[Bfatz]

I hate to be the resident GOAL basher........but.........

Does GOAL have insight into this investigation that the rest of the world does not?

What if the circumstances are not as they appear?

GOAL should wait till all the facts come out before using Langone as the poster boy for CCW.

If things are not as they appear GOAL will again have some credibility issues.

Just my .02

For the record.... I am in favor of this so long as there is no proverbial wrench thrown into the investigation that we do not yet know about.

Lets see, a Knife, a person getting stabbed helplessly....am I missing something?

 

[Rob Boudrie]

News gets old quick. GOAL needs to strike while the iron is hot, even if there is a small calculated risk that less flattering info than initially available may be disclosed as the investigation continues. My guess is that that risk is small.

What GOAL should do, but is not doing, is stressing that the "special police officer" did not grant this individual any special status outside the specific area he is hired to patrol, and that the only reason he was able to save the doctor was because his police chief did not see fit to impose "on the job only" restrictions on his LTC-A.

There is little doubt this individual would have been unarmed if his LTC was restricted, since law abiding citizens obey such restrictions. The Reading licensing officer deserves some credit for not preventing this "LEO lite" from being prepared to respond to a crisis.

 

[Half Cocked]

Lets see, a Knife, a person getting stabbed helplessly....am I missing something?

Yeah... the fact that the investigation is not complete and there is time to learn that this guy may not be the poster boy GOAL is making him out to be.

He may very well be.....but........when you are a political organization you have to due your due diligence when it comes to public relations as you have a lot to lose by backing the wrong people.

The smart thing to do is wait for the investigation to be completed and wiat for the dust to settle.

There is no rush and as EC stated it looks poor to attempt to capitalize off an incident such as this so soon afterwards.

 

[tele_mark]

It's a damn complicated situation, no matter how you look at it.

 

[Half Cocked]

There is little doubt this individual would have been unarmed if his LTC was restricted, since law abiding citizens obey such restrictions. The Reading licensing officer deserves some credit for not preventing this "LEO lite" from being prepared to respond to a crisis.

I am curious as I have not seen it published.........does this guy have an LTC? Or has everyone been assuming?

I would guess he does but I have not seen anything documented. Did I miss it?

 

[News Shooter]

One thing is for sure..only time will tell

Sorry, I had a flash back to my old reporting days

 

[Asaltweapon]

While it's most likely that he will avoid criminal charges and be able to hide behind a "special police" title, It will never stop the family from going forward and pressing civil charges against him. After all he killed a husband and unemployed father of 4. The liberals will be climbing all over one another over that. Sadly the guy will be under a microscope for many years while this runs its course.

I most likely would have done the same thing to the fruit cup but don't know for sure because I wasn't there. I also support GOAL but agree the timing might be a little off.

 

[Bfatz]

I am curious as I have not seen it published.........does this guy have an LTC? Or has everyone been assuming?

I would guess he does but I have not seen anything documented. Did I miss it?

It was stated on talk radio this morning that he indeed did have a LTC, but that would be hearsay as I can not prove that with a link, just from what I heard.

By the way this F-en State blows, this guy is going to get picked apart for his good deed. Just goes to show you as much as some of us think that it is the right thing to get involved, it sometimes can be a bad thing to get involved.

I am torn either way. Dammed if you do Dammed if you don't.

 

[Mike S]

Halfcocked, you're not seeing the entire picture.

Do you really think the general public will still be paying attention in one, two, or three weeks from now, when the "dust settles" on this case?

Like it or not, right now, people are paying attention, everybody is talking about this. If we can convince some of the people who are now paying attention to "see the light" and this enables the passing of legislation that is going to have a positive change on our unconstitutional laws, wouldn't you say that in doing so we can make something good come from a bad situation?

 

[glide]

This is necessary independent of this MGH issue.

I don't know why they even need a poster-boy. It's common sense (to the sensible).

 

[Mrs. Magnum]

This incident is just the example, its not the first time or last time it will happen.

We are using it to highlight what we already have at the state house. This bill was filed on 1/11/09

 

[freedom2012]

Halfcocked, you're not seeing the entire picture.

Do you really think the general public will still be paying attention in one, two, or three weeks from now, when the "dust settles" on this case?

Like it or not, right now, people are paying attention, everybody is talking about this. If we can convince some of the people who are now paying attention to "see the light" and this enables the passing of legislation that is going to have a positive change on our unconstitutional laws, wouldn't you say that in doing so we can make something good come from a bad situation?

I agree you have to strike when the iron is hot. Just like the healthcare protesters showed up at town meetings when the issue was hot and cooled it down, the issue must be dealt with at the opportune time or it will become a political risk not worth taking for the legislature when things cool down.

Sorry, you might not like the tactics of the anti's or the leftists, but they work. It's about results. No need to suffocate the opportunity when everyone is on the same side here just because it wreaks of opposition tactic.