Texas already has something similar to this<\/p>\n
Tennessee bill would allow use of deadly force for a property crime<\/a><\/p>\n NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) \u2014 The law in Tennessee is clear: You can use deadly force only in self-defense if you fear for your life or someone else’s, but, what if you could shoot someone who stole from you?<\/p>\n For now — that would be a felony. But a new bill expands the uses of deadly force.<\/p>\n “I think the last year has raised a lot of questions in Tennessee about whether you can use force or deadly force,” said John Harris, executive director of the Tennessee Firearms Association.<\/p>\n Harris said the thinks the destructive demonstrations and looting at the Davidson County Courthouse and the businesses along Lower Broadway this past May raised some concerns.<\/p>\n Now State Representative Jay Reedy has filed a bill that would allow a person to use deadly force to protect their property.<\/p>\n Harris said with police occupied elsewhere, store owners, for instance, under current law could not use lethal force to stop looting, and people are tired of it.<\/p>\n “The question is does the criminal just laugh at them and keep stealing stuff? At some point, juries will say you have the right to defend it and I don’t care what the law says,” Harris said.<\/p>\n The bill could address that frustration.<\/p>\n “The way it is written is very, very vague,” said legal analyst Nick Leonardo.<\/p>\n He understands concerns over violent protests but he called the bill vigilante legislation.<\/p>\n Leonardo said it could allow a victim, when there is no personal threat, to shoot a theft suspect in the back as he runs from the scene.<\/p>\n “To be able to just shoot someone because you thought they were taking your personal property is not where America is or we’ve been in the last hundred years,” Leonardo said.<\/p>\n Representative Reedy concedes the bill, for now, is vague and he expects it to be tightened up. But he also said law-abiding citizens have a right to protect their businesses or hard-earned personal property.<\/p>\n House Bill 11 is now filed for consideration. If it passes the next legislative session it would take effect in July of 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Texas already has something similar to this Tennessee bill would allow use of deadly force for a property crime NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) \u2014 The law in Tennessee is clear: You can use deadly force only in self-defense if you fear for your life or someone else’s, but, what if you could shoot someone who stole … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,29,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rkba","category-safety","category-self-defense"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61989"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61990,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61989\/revisions\/61990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}