Colorado Senate Panel Kills Expansion Of 'Make My Day' Law

[Houdini]

Make My Day Law Killed For Rest Of Session

POSTED: 5:51 pm MST February 26, 2007
UPDATED: 8:04 pm MST February 26, 2007


DENVER -- A Senate committee on Monday killed a proposal to expand Colorado's "Make My Day" law to protect the use of deadly force in self-defense in stores and other workplaces.
The law currently protects the use of deadly force in self-defense only by people who are in their homes.
The new proposal, called "Make My Day Better," passed the House 34-30 with bipartisan support. But the Senate State, Veteran and Military Affairs Committee permanently killed the measure on a 3-2, party-line vote, meaning it cannot be revived for the rest of the session.
The committee's Democrats said they feared disagreements between customers and shopkeepers could escalate into violence.:banghead: The committee's two Republicans voted for the bill.
Sponsor Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, criticized "Denver Democrats" for siding with criminals and said he would try again next year.
"The Senate vote shows a blatant disregard for our right to protect ourselves from criminals without fear of prosecution," he said in a statement.
Sen. Peter Groff, D-Denver, said store owners could end up shooting teenagers they were fearful of just because they were talking too loud, wearing their baseball hat backward or listening to the rapper Snoop Dogg. Or he said a shooting could break out over shoplifting.
"What we're trying to do here, I think, is create some street-imposed death penalty that may be executed, excuse the pun, over a Milky Way bar," he said.
Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, said expanding the law would only cover people who legitimately felt threatened, not those who fired at a person for no good reason. He pointed to the case of a Denver bar owner who was charged for shooting a man who broke in after closing as one reason the expansion was needed.
Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, said he could support expanding the law to include people who are threatened by people who broke in after the business was closed, but Harvey said that wouldn't cover people who work in 24-hour businesses, like convenience stores.
The bill was backed by the County Sheriffs of Colorado but opposed by the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police.
Aurora police chief Dan Oats said arguments can easily break out between business owners and customers.
"Empowering the use of deadly force by frightened people is not rational policy," Oates said.
But Douglas County Sheriff David Weaver said owners and workers had a right to defend themselves. While working as a security guard when he was younger, he recalled two guards who were attacked while they worked in stores by people who were stealing items worth less than $100.

By the time the police arrive you have been raped and killed...God forbid if you defend yourself. Wait untill it happens to a senators wife, kids or themselfs when they are shopping.

 

[Libertylover]

Because, you know, everyone just presumes that when a shopkeeper doesn't accept a return, or won't budge on a price, that shopkeeper intends to kill you. Or when a customer expresses dissatisfaction over a price, or dissatisfaction that the shopkeeper won't accept a return, the customer intends to kill the shopkeper...:banghead:

Wait, it was voted down by Democrats??? Oh, yeah, that makes sense, they want the innocent citizens to cower in fear, whether in the face of criminals or in the face of tyrants, it matters not to them...

 

[LAR-15]

Democrats care more about protecting criminals than anyone else.

They don't care if you get beaten, raped and robbed.

 

[Standing Wolf]

The new proposal, called "Make My Day Better," passed the House 34-30 with bipartisan support. But the Senate State, Veteran and Military Affairs Committee permanently killed the measure on a 3-2, party-line vote, meaning it cannot be revived for the rest of the session.

Denver wants to be the San Francisco of the Rocky Mountains.

 

[gyp_c2]

hmmm...

...I vote that since Denver is a home rule city, they shouldn't be allowed reps in the state gov't...at least until they recognize the rights of the rest of the state...

 

[Deavis]

The committee's Democrats said they feared disagreements between customers and shopkeepers could escalate into violence.

That should actually read

The committee's Democrats said they feared disagreements between themselves and other people could escalate into violence.

I like how some people are so willing to project their own insecurities onto the rest of us. Just because they are incapable of handling responsibility, or in the more devious case feel they are the only one capable, doesn't mean I am not. Blood in the streets, can't trust the normal man.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Today's editorial in the Springs Gazette on this topic:

http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=19633&template=article.html

Shot down
Democrats revert to criminal-friendly form

Senate Democrats on Monday gunned down a commonsense extension of Colorado’s “make my day” law that would have protected people who use deadly force while defending themselves in a place of business. And what a bunch of criminal-coddling ninnies they seemed while doing so.
A citizen’s right to self defense is God-given and absolute, whether she is at home, at the workplace, riding in a car or walking down a sidewalk, so it always struck us as silly and superfluous that such laws are needed in the first place. But given the evident failure of some people to grasp the concept of an indivisible right to self-defense, we suppose such bills are a necessary evil.
All this one would have done is grant business owners the same protections all Coloradans enjoy if they have to use deadly force during a home invasion. But Democrats evidently believe the right to self defense changes with the scenery, and killed the bill on a 3-2 committee vote — using arguments that seem to confirm their reputations for caring more about criminals than for the rights of average citizens.
According to a report, Sen. Peter Groff, a Democrat from Denver, worried “that store owners could end up shooting teenagers they were fearful of just because they were talking too loud, wearing their baseball hat backward or listening to the rapper Snoop Dogg. Or he said a shooting could break out over shoplifting. ‘What we’re trying to do here I think is create some street-imposed death penalty that may be executed, excuse the pun, over a Milky Way bar,’ he said.”
That’s a twisted reading of what the bill would have done. Extending make-my-day protections to places of business wouldn’t have allowed a business owner to use deadly force for trivial purposes, but only in self-defense, if an intrusion was occurring or the owner felt he or she was in real peril. No one would escape prosecution for gunning down someone who swipes a candy bar — unless the thief is armed and dangerous, or the situation is escalating toward violence.
Such silly arguments routinely get trotted out whenever the make my day, also called the castle doctrine, is debated. But granting extra legal protections to homeowners never resulted in trigger happy behavior on the homefront, so there’s absolutely no reason to believe places of business would erupt in gunfire had this bill succeeded. Groff’s suggestion that it would lead to an open season on urban youth might play well in his district, but it is refuted by more than 20 years of experience with the original law.
One person who testified in favor of the bill, 13th Judicial District Attorney Bob Watson, called it a “logical extension” of the current law that might deter crime. “Every bad guy on the street knows about the ‘Make My Day’ law,” Watson said. “This bill would do the same thing — get the bad guys to maybe think twice.”
Evidently, it also made Democrats think twice.
The vote “shows a blatant disregard for our right to protect ourselves from criminals without fear of prosecution,” said a disappointed Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, who blamed “Denver Democrats” for the setback and promised to bring the bill back again next year. But what good will that do, we wonder, as long as the party of sub-divided rights and weak-kneed ninnies is in charge?

 

[ConfuseUs]

Wow, talk about insulting the average Denver shopkeeper! Those Democrats should remember that they were once the party of the average Joe.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Those Democrats should remember that they were once the party of the average Joe.

Not even when my father was a lad in short trousers.