As a once-kid who used to take shortcuts across open ranch land, this bill would give land owners a license to kill:
The bill comes as an Arizona rancher awaits trial after he was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and aggravated assault for killing 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Butimea after he shot at a group of unarmed migrants walking through his 170-acre ranch outside of Nogales. Under its provisions, 73-year-old George Alan Kelly would have been justified for allegedly killing any of the migrants.
Which is exceedingly easy to argue when your opponent is dead. “They charged right at me”
The problem really would be if the police want to investigate properly or not. It’s often very easy to see if the body has been moved into a place where you’re allowed to threaten them, i.e. a “premise” as defined by the law in question. And further easy to see if any weapons present are planted or not. And wether any traces exist to prove or disprove the charge claim. Like footsteps, distance between where the shot was fired and the body etc. but it’s of course entirely possible that the Police go “his story checks out, the illegal charged him with a weapon”. Without doing any police work. But in that case very few laws help anyway.
“So I had to shoot them in the back, from 200 yards away”
No, you walk right up to them, rifle in hand, then claim to be afraid. We’ve seen it before (the case is in the article in fact).