The Alabama House will try to pass a bill that expands the criteria for when a person can use deadly force to protect a home or vehicle.
The strengthened deadly force bill is on today's agenda as the Legislature returns to Montgomery after a week off.
The bill would provide immunity from civil suits and criminal charges to people forced to kill intruders they believe are trying to harm them. That protection would extend to people who use deadly force in protecting occupied vehicles and any building where people sleep at night.
House Republicans, angered that the Senate Judiciary Committee hasn't acted on a measure to make killing a fetus murder in certain instances, held up the deadly force legislation sponsored by Sen. Larry Means, D-Attalla. The GOP caucus dropped that tactic earlier this month but that doesn't mean the bill is sure to pass.
Black lawmakers also have complained the bill would allow people to shoot people who accidentally walk into their yards or who come to the door because their car has broken down.
"I'm not going to vote for it," said Speaker Pro Tem Demetrius Newton, D-Birmingham. "Our district attorney swears it's a bad bill."
The deadly force bill has the backing of the National Rifle Association, which is pushing for more permissive shooting laws nationwide, something it has dubbed the "Castle Doctrine."
On March 15, the NRA called on members to pressure Alabama lawmakers to pass Means' bill.
"The members of the House are refusing to take a vote on the bill because of unrelated political motivations, resulting in your right to self-defense being put on hold," said the group's Web site, www.nra.org. "Your state representative needs to hear from you."
Ronald Jackson, executive director of the Birmingham-based advocacy group People United, has been trying to stir up opposition to the deadly force bills in the House and Senate. He says the proposed law would make Alabama look like a "redneck, Yazoo state with gun-toting vigilantes."
