Original Article Wyo. a battleground in deadly-force fight NRA lobbying for 'no-retreat' law Ben Neary Associated Press Jan. 29, 2006 12:00 AM CHEYENNE, Wyo. - In the "Cowboy State," where guns are present in more than half of all homes, an unlikely battleground is forming in the fight over the appropriate use of firearms. Flush with victory in its push for state laws allowing concealed handguns, the National Rifle Association is lobbying lawmakers in Wyoming and in 11 other states to make it easier for people to defend themselves with deadly force. The NRA wants legislation specifying that people have no duty to retreat from an attacker before using deadly force. About half of all states have similar rules. But in Wyoming, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence is taking a stand. James Brady, the former press secretary to President Reagan who was wounded in an attack on the president, called on Wyoming legislators last week to oppose the legislation, calling it "a sham, a farce, a dangerous solution to a non-existent problem." "No one's in jail in Wyoming for acting in legitimate self-defense," Brady said. "The only thing this law might do is keep people out of jail who deserve to be there." Neither state Rep. Stephen Watt, a Republican sponsor of the Wyoming bill, nor Uinta County Attorney Mike Greer could cite a Wyoming case in which someone was prosecuted but would have been spared if there were a no-retreat law. But Watt said that's not the point. "It's about a right to defend yourself," said Watt, a former policeman. "And that is a right that we all should have, regardless of whether there's been any cases where someone has been prosecuted for using self-defense or not." Twenty-five states have such laws on the books, and the NRA says 38 states now have some provision allowing people to carry concealed handguns, up from just 10 in the mid-1980s. NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said the group is now pushing no-retreat bills in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, South Dakota and Washington, in addition to Wyoming.