Arizona Senate bill allows deadly force for property damage
Posted: March 7th, 2022, 6:27 pm
https://apnews.com/article/arizona-phoe ... 0551c3b8b2
PHOENIX (AP) — A bill sponsored by a Republican state senator set for a vote at any time would allow business owners or their employees to use deadly force to defend their property against smash-and-grab robbers if the robber possessed a dangerous weapon.
But critics of the proposal from Scottsdale Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita say the legislation is so broadly written that it would allow someone to shoot and kill someone just for scrawling graffiti on a wall while having something that might be deemed a weapon.
Ugenti-Rita acknowledged during a recent committee hearing that that was possible, but pointed to limits in her proposal that said the person had to possess a “deadly instrument” at the time they were “knowingly” damaging or defacing someone else’s property.
“Sadly we have become all too familiar with the looting and smash and grab thefts that have occurred across the country as a result, and has resulted in violence and property damage,” Ugenti-Rita said during a committee hearing last month. “I believe we need to strengthen our laws so that business owners will have a legal justification for using physical force or deadly force when defending their property.”
PHOENIX (AP) — A bill sponsored by a Republican state senator set for a vote at any time would allow business owners or their employees to use deadly force to defend their property against smash-and-grab robbers if the robber possessed a dangerous weapon.
But critics of the proposal from Scottsdale Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita say the legislation is so broadly written that it would allow someone to shoot and kill someone just for scrawling graffiti on a wall while having something that might be deemed a weapon.
Ugenti-Rita acknowledged during a recent committee hearing that that was possible, but pointed to limits in her proposal that said the person had to possess a “deadly instrument” at the time they were “knowingly” damaging or defacing someone else’s property.
“Sadly we have become all too familiar with the looting and smash and grab thefts that have occurred across the country as a result, and has resulted in violence and property damage,” Ugenti-Rita said during a committee hearing last month. “I believe we need to strengthen our laws so that business owners will have a legal justification for using physical force or deadly force when defending their property.”