Rep. Demuth statement re: Supreme Court duty to retreat decision

ST. PAUL – House Minority Leader Rep. Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, issued the following statement in response to the Minnesota Supreme Court recently establishing Minnesotans have a duty to retreat before using deadly force when threatened.

“I strongly disagree with the court’s duty to retreat decision because it directly undermines the fundamental ability for Minnesotans to protect themselves and their families if they are under attack,” Demuth said. “It is yet another layer of activist-driven law in our state that favors criminals over innocent victims. As a dissenting opinion on this case noted, this new rule is so radical it has not been adopted anywhere in the United States, and Minnesota is superseding the collective wisdom of judges nationwide over hundreds of years who never saw fit to impose a duty to retreat on citizens before they could appropriately respond to deter an aggressor. The Legislature needs to take a closer look at this issue and restore Minnesotans’ fundamental right to defend themselves.”

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