Arizona Republicans are rallying behind a proposed law that critics say would amount to legalizing murder.
House Bill 2843 would expand the “Castle Doctrine,” which gives people the right to use deadly force when threatened by home intruders, to include trespassers. State Rep. Justin Heap (R) filed the bill to give people living in the border state wider latitude to use force against unauthorized migrants who cut through private property on their way into the United States.
“It’s horrifying that Republicans want to allow people to legally shoot and kill migrants,” state Rep. Analise Ortiz (D) told HuffPost. “Especially when so many folks are seeking their legal right to seek asylum in the United States. It’s just wrong.”
The bill stems from a decadeslong trend in conservative state legislatures to expand the right of individuals to protect themselves with firearms. Such “stand your ground” laws typically remove the obligation for people to retreat to safety when they feel threatened, and extend immunity to prosecution for those who commit a homicide in cases where they believe they face an attack.
Heap said at a Judiciary Committee hearing last month that he filed the bill over concerns brought by local prosecutors who were “having issues in the case where you have farmers and ranchers who want to trespass someone from their property,” by which he meant “remove someone from their property.” He noted concerns about migrants and human traffickers specifically.
But Heap’s proposal is more unique than that description suggests, according to Lindsay Nichols, policy director for the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Castle Doctrine laws, including Arizona’s, have not historically applied to areas outside a person’s home.
“It’s a particularly alarming instance of this trend,” Nichols said. “The prospect of a world in which you can be executed without due process for accidentally stepping onto someone’s property is…
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