HARRISBURG — Gov. Ed Rendell on Saturday vetoed a bill that he feared would escalate violent acts by expanding a person’s rights in Pennsylvania to use deadly force in self-defense, even when safe retreat is possible, if feeling threatened outside their home.

Rendell criticized the bill as a dangerous solution to a nonexistent problem that would encourage a “shoot first, ask questions later” mentality.

“I do not believe that in a civilized society we should encourage violent and deadly confrontation when the victim can safely protect themselves” through retreat, Rendell wrote in his veto message released Saturday. “As keepers of the public trust, we have the solemn duty to protect our citizenry, not put them in harm’s way, and to protect the sanctity of human life.”

The veto was one of three bills rejected Saturday by Rendell.

The measure broadening Pennsylvania’s so-called Castle Doctrine also would have offered immunity against civil lawsuits to people who could show that they acted within the law’s guidelines.

Under current law in Pennsylvania, the use of deadly force in self-defense is not justifiable when safe retreat is possible, unless a person is attacked in their home or workplace, Rendell said.

The vetoed bill said, in part, that “no person should be required to surrender his or her personal safety to a criminal, nor should a person be required to needlessly retreat in the face of intrusion or attack outside the person’s home or vehicle.”

A number of states have Castle Doctrine laws, although most limit the use of deadly force in self-defense to the home or private property.

Rep. Scott Perry, R-York, who sponsored a similar Castle Doctrine bill, on Wednesday criticized Rendell’s veto as a vote against a majority of Pennsylvanians “who want to be able to defend themselves” and “completely out of step with citizens of the commonwealth that he swore to represent.”