The Republican-controlled Tennessee General Assembly has approved legislation that would allow residents to use deadly force to protect their property under certain conditions.
The House passed HB 1802 on Thursday in a 62-24 vote, two days after the Senate approved it 21-5.
The measure now goes to Republican Gov. Bill Lee for his signature. Lee has not publicly stated his position on the bill, but he has consistently supported gun rights.
Rep. Kip Capley, R-Summertown, and Sen. Joey Hensley, R-Hohenwald, sponsored the legislation.
“Right now, under current law, if someone is breaking into your property, if they’re stealing from you, if they’re destroying what you’ve worked your entire life to build, you’re expected to wait,” Capley said Thursday, according to WKRN-TV in Nashville. “You’re expected to hesitate.
“You’re expected to second-guess and take a calculated risk at defending what’s yours.”
The bill broadens Tennessee’s self-defense laws to allow deadly force when a person reasonably believes it is immediately necessary to prevent or stop crimes such as trespass, arson, burglary, theft, robbery, or property damage, including harm to livestock.
Under the proposal, deadly force would only be considered justified if the person believes the property cannot be protected by other means or that using nonlethal force would put them or others at risk of death or serious bodily injury.
The legislation also outlines limits, stating that deadly force is not justified if the person it is used against is facing away from the individual.
Critics argue the bill could increase unnecessary violence and create legal uncertainty about when deadly force is appropriate, especially in cases involving nonviolent property crimes.
“The reason we were taught you don’t kill people over property is because they are not putting at risk an innocent human life,” said Rep. Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, according to WKRN. “What this legislation seems to be doing is lowering that threshold significantly and substantially.
“And the department is going to have to reteach in future classes for those who get their lifetime permit that you can now kill people over property, and I don’t think that is right.”
Capley defended the bill, saying individuals should not have to stand by while criminals destroy what they have built over a lifetime.
If someone were “burning down your barn and you’ve only got insurance on $250,000 worth of equipment, but I’ve spent 20 years of my life building $5 million worth of whatever, if I don’t stop him and I shoot him right now, then it’s going to be on me,” Capley said. “It’s going to be on my family.
“I’m going to have to defend myself because a criminal came on my property and burned down my stuff. That’s not right.”
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