Thanks to Governor Parnell Alaska now has its own stand your ground law. Gee if only there were an ongoing trial to demonstrate what a bad idea this is.

"Wait, your saying this is a bad idea?"

Courtesy of the NRA:  

Today, Governor Sean Parnell (R) signed into law House Bill 24. This landmark self-defense improvement law ensures stronger protections for law-abiding Alaskans from criminals and criminal prosecution if he or she must exercise necessary self-defense measures without retreating from any place they have a legal right to be. HB 24, introduced by state Representative Mark Neuman (R-10), passed in the state Senate on April 11 by a 15-4 vote after approval by the House of Representatives in a 29-4 vote in March. This bill takes positive steps to ensure that the law protects the innocent – not criminals – and will take effect in ninety days. (So hard to tell this is written by the NRA isn't it?)


Under existing state law, if a person is justified in using deadly force in self-defense, there is no duty-to-retreat if the person is in his or her home, business or on his or her own property. In any other place, however, if a person “knows” that he or she can safely retreat from an encounter, the person is legally required to do so. This legislation would extend this protection so a person, if justified in using deadly force in self-defense, has no-duty-to-retreat from any place the person has a legal right to be. Therefore, as the law stood before enactment of HB 24, a person who resisted an aggressor bore the risk of a finding that, although the response was proportional to the reasonably-perceived threat, the person overestimated the difficulty of getting away unscathed and is, therefore, guilty of a crime despite being justified to react with defensive force. Removing the retreat provision shifts some of the risk calculation back to the aggressor.

So in other words if you are feeling threatened while carrying a firearm, rather than remove yourself from the situation so as to to protect yourself and innocent bystanders, you are now encouraged to stand there fingering your trigger until you feel justified in opening fire.

But wait, there's more.

Additionally, Governor Parnell signed House Bill 69 into law today. This bill, as enacted, restricts state and localities from using assets to implement or aid in the implementation of the requirements of certain federal statutes, regulations, rules, and orders that are applied to infringe on a person's right to bear arms or right to due process. This bill will go into effect in ninety days. 

That's right, not only is Alaska now essentially the wild wild west, we are also now encouraged to resist arrest by federal law enforcement. (Where was this law when Schaeffer Cox really needed it?)

Gee I guess Alaska was not already dangerous enough for Sarah Palin's pet poodle.