As with most years around here, we had some new laws go into effect on September 1st. This News8Austin story summarizes a few of the things that changed on Saturday, but I’m particularly interested in two of them.

Katie’s Law – It’s about f-ing time something like this went on the books. I’ve been advocating for this for years. In fact, this one doesn’t go far enough. It doesn’t start putting restrictions on you until you’re 79. Let’s move it up 10 years.

Castle Doctrine – Removes the requirement that someone must try to retreat before using deadly force to defend themselves. This one’s an interesting one in light of the death of musician Carter Albrecht in Dallas. The Statesman played up the tenuous connection to local musician, Charlie Sexton. I’m generally a fan of how Texas interprets this sort of thing. I live in a sketchy neighborhood that’s gotten sketchier over the last year or so. That being said, whenever guns are introduced into a situation, things can become very serious very quickly and there’s not much room for error. The Grand Jury’s out on this one as of yet, but I can’t see how blindly firing through the door doesn’t get you some sort of charge.