this post was submitted on 22 Jan 2024
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In Kentucky, politicians are preparing to vote on a law that would authorize the use of force against unhoused people who are found to be camping on private property.

Republican politicians in Kentucky are rallying behind a new bill that would authorize the use of force—and potentially deadly force—against unhoused people who are found to be camping on private property. The bill would also criminalize unsanctioned homeless encampments and restrict cities and towns from preempting state laws.

The bill, known as the “Safer Kentucky Act,” or HB5, would target homelessness, drug possession and mental illness by drastically increasing criminal penalties for a range of offenses. Introduced last week by Republican state representative Jared Bauman, it already has 52 sponsors in Kentucky’s House of Representatives. A vote is scheduled for this week.

Advocates are most alarmed by one aspect of the “Safer Kentucky Act” in particular: an anti-homeless provision that would authorize violence by property owners on people camping on their property. The bill says the use of force is “justifiable” if a defendant believes that criminal trespass, robbery or “unlawful camping” is occurring on their property.

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[–] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 114 points 9 months ago (3 children)

the party of jesus, folks.

[–] AllonzeeLV@lemmy.world 50 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It's a shame American Evangelicals can't read, or they'd realize they've been worshipping a filthy commie the whole time.

[–] superduperenigma@lemmy.world 16 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Wait until they find out he was a brown skinned middle easterner.

[–] dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 9 months ago

Jordan? Judah? Michael? Matthew? Luke? Those are all nice Christian boy names.

[–] Whirling_Cloudburst@lemmy.world 16 points 9 months ago

Supply Side Jesus for sure.

[–] badbytes@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

Hmmm, WWJD, What would Jesus do?

Set them on fire and send them to hell.

[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.dbzer0.com 67 points 9 months ago (4 children)

A "Safer Kentucky Act" that makes it extremely unsafe for one of our nation's most vulnerable groups.

Absolute ghouls.

[–] DigitalTraveler42@lemmy.world 13 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

These are the type of people who watch The Purge and think "hell yeah, can't wait brother!" As if their old dumbassas wouldn't be amongst the first purged.

I've known quite a few Doomers and Accerationists and each one has never served in the military, completely obsessed with guns, and seem to be scared of anyone different, if TEOTWAWKI went down I'd be pointing my crew in their direction for easy loot.

[–] wintermutehal@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It’s funny in a sick way that Tales from the Crypt had an episode about eating the homeless by an organization named G.H.O.U.L.S

[–] TWeaK@lemm.ee 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)

Tales from the Crypt, man that takes me back.

Apparently you're talking about S03E10 Mournin' Mess.

Edit: Damn lol I remembered this as a kids' show, starts with fuck, shit, and titties!

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[–] originalfrozenbanana@lemm.ee 4 points 9 months ago

Well yes but those aren’t people /s

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[–] Jomega@lemmy.world 40 points 9 months ago (3 children)

"Safer Kentucky Act"

Orwellian is not a strong enough word. This shit is beyond parody.

[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 6 points 9 months ago

It should be illegal to euphamize bills. What a load of deceptive shit.

[–] Akasazh@feddit.nl 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The Kill Bill, would be more apt tbh

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, but you'd run the risk of Tarantino suing you

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[–] TokenBoomer@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago
[–] VeryVito@lemmy.ml 31 points 9 months ago

Their plan to fight homelessness and mental illness is simple: Make them illegal! That should solve it.

Meanwhile, regulating firearms won’t work because then only criminals will have guns. These people are ducking evil.

[–] lazynooblet@lazysoci.al 29 points 9 months ago

These people can't have a shred of empathy. The homeless being treated like vermin. People at the lowest point of their lives, when they need help the most, are mistreated awfully by those in power.

[–] PedroMaldonado@lemmy.world 24 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Classic. Punish being poor.

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[–] calabast@lemm.ee 23 points 9 months ago (4 children)

The bill says the use of force is "justifiable" if a defendant believes that criminal trespass, robbery, or "unlawful camping" is occurring on their property.

Great, so not only does it let them shoot homeless people, it lets them do it even if they "believe" it's happening. So you can just shoot someone on your property for no reason at all, and say "well, I though they were performing a robbery".

[–] Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 9 months ago (2 children)

"They were scoping the place out to put up a tent, I had to shoot them officer."

"They didn't have anything with them"

"But I believed that was their purpose"

"Alright, checks out, have a nice day sir."

  • Somewhere in near future in Kentucky if this passes
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[–] CodeName@infosec.pub 4 points 9 months ago

They're basically extending Castle Doctrine out to the sidewalk. Next they'll add you car to the list and you get to shoot anyone who cuts you off or makes eye contact with you while driving. After that you'll get a personal exclusivity zone and can shoot anyone who comes within ten feet of you in public as long as they look "homeless" (ie are poor and/or black).

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[–] LEDZeppelin@lemmy.world 21 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Then once passed, quietly reinterpret “property owners” as anyone with a right skin color. Just ask that Kenosha shooter how it’s done.

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 10 points 9 months ago

No need... home-ownership is already skewed to a race.

From Census.gov

[–] BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works 15 points 9 months ago

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free

...

so that I may hunt them for sport

Stay classy America!

[–] AnneBonny@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 9 months ago (4 children)

2 (1) The use of physical force by a defendant upon another person is justifiable when the 3 defendant believes that such force is immediately necessary to prevent: ** 4 (a) The commission of criminal trespass, robbery, burglary, or other felony 5 involving the use of force, or under those circumstances permitted pursuant to 6 KRS 503.055, in a dwelling, building or upon real property in his or her 7 possession or in the possession of another person for whose protection he or 8 she acts;[ or] 9 (b) Theft, criminal mischief, or any trespassory taking of tangible, movable 10 property in his or her possession or in the possession of another person for 11 whose protection he or she acts; or 12 (c) The commission of unlawful camping in violation of Section 17 of this Act, 13 when the offense is occurring on property owned or leased by the defendant, 14 the individual engaged in unlawful camping has been told to cease, and the 15 individual committing the offense has used force or threatened to use force**
** 16 against the defendant.**

I haven't been through all the amendments yet, and I'm not a lawyer, but the author of the article may have mischaracterized a portion of the bill.

[–] PeepinGoodArgs@reddthat.com 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] AnneBonny@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 9 months ago (3 children)

The article says:

The bill says the use of force is “justifiable” if a defendant believes that criminal trespass, robbery or “unlawful camping” is occurring on their property.

The bill says:

2 (1) The use of physical force by a defendant upon another person is justifiable when the
3 defendant believes that such force is immediately necessary to prevent:
... 12 (c) The commission of unlawful camping in violation of Section 17 of this Act,
13 when the offense is occurring on property owned or leased by the defendant,
14 the individual engaged in unlawful camping has been told to cease, and the
15 individual committing the offense has used force or threatened to use force
16 against the defendant.

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[–] BigWheelPowerBrakeSlider@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

I'm not commenting on the particulars of this proposed bill one way or the other, but I was going to say that I wish these articles would at least link to the actual language of the proposed statute so I can decide whether I agree with the article writer's interpretation or if it's clickbait. (The same with court opinions. And heck, quotes are taken out of context all the time as well. Link me the original source in case I don't want trust the spoon feeding.)

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[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 14 points 9 months ago

Local police are reportedly opposed to the idea.

They say shooting random poor people is their job.

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Maybe the NRA should distribute guns to the homeless in an outreach program to show that conservatives do care about the downtrodden. Everyone has a right to bear arms, right? Isn't that the conservative mantra? Well, except for the homeless poor, minorities, etc...

[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Everyone has the right to bear arms! *

~*Everyone~ ~defined~ ~exclusively~ ~as~ ~white~~,~~land~ ~owning~~,~ ~politically~ ~conservative~ ~male~ ~over~ ~the~ ~age~ ~of~ ~35~

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

I bet you could pull it of if you were a white conservative male living out of your pickup and had a gun to keep away those thieving (insert group conservatives love to hate on here).

[–] PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)
[–] inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago

How fucking Christian of them...

[–] Wermhatswormhat@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Like, where else are they supposed to go? They refuse to build any kind of a shelter becuse nobody wants to have one around them. Ironically instead they spend all their money building billion dollar sports stadiums. They just want to criminalize being poor.

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[–] Tylerdurdon@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago

Man, bad week to be homeless! By Friday they'll be legalizing priests' ability to crucify homeless people who trespass.

[–] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (9 children)

Unless I'm missing something, this article is wrong and the the bill isn't legalizing the use of force against homeless people simply for trespassing. The actual text of the bill, regarding the use of force against "unlawful camping":

The use of physical force by a defendant upon another person is justifiable when the defendant believes that such force is immediately necessary to prevent:

(c) The commission of unlawful camping in violation of Section 17 of this Act, when the offense is occurring on property owned or leased by the defendant, the individual engaged in unlawful camping has been told to cease, and the individual committing the offense has used force or threatened to use force against the defendant.

Note that the use of force is only authorized against "unlawful campers" who are themselves getting violent.

[–] ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 12 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Easy to say someone threatened you when you're alive and they are dead. It is flat out a license to murder homeless people on your property.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

That's my read as well. So why do we need a new law?

[–] magnusrufus@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Note that the use of force is authorized when the person killing another person "believes" it's necessary and claims that the person they killed was warned or made threats.

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[–] gnate@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

The "Stop Hitting Yourself Act"

[–] reverendsteveii@lemm.ee 3 points 9 months ago

anyone remember when "hunting the homeless for sport" was an exaggeration of republican politics?

[–] Demdaru@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

“Safer Kentucky Act,”

FOR WHO?!

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[–] Marketsupreme@lemm.ee 2 points 9 months ago

Great idea. Now if one of the senators homes burn down does that mean it's open season?

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