IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 16, 2022
Force Liability Defense Act
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Firestone in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS
(a) The “Uniformed Control of Firearms Act”, or the “UCFA” shall be defined as: Uniformed Control of Firearms Act.
(b) An Act for Logical Use of Force shall be defined as: An Act for Logical Use of Force.
(c) For the purposes of this act, “citizens” shall mean anyone other than law enforcement officers acting in official capacity.
(d) For the purposes of this act, “law enforcement” shall encompass any and all state actors with the power to arrest, as well as members of the National Guard, acting in official capacity.
SECTION 2. NULLIFICATIONS
(a) Chapter One, Sections 12, 13, and 15 of the Uniformed Control of Firearms Act shall be nullified.
(b) An Act for Logical Use of Force shall be nullified in entirety.
SECTION 3. AMENDMENTS
(a) Chapter One, Section 14 of the UCFA currently states, “Persons may use their lawful firearm, along with the things listed in 1(12) and 1(13), for recreation. Recreation may be firing practice at a range recognized by law or the Department of Commerce, hunting away from a populated area, or a firearms show approved by the Department of Commerce.”
(b) Chapter One, Section 14 of the UCFA shall be amended to state, “Persons may use their lawful firearm for recreation. Recreation may be firing practice at a range recognized by law or the Department of Commerce, hunting away from a populated area, or a firearms show approved by the Department of Commerce.”
(c) Chapter Four, §18 of the Firestone Criminal Code will be amended to state, “Citizens and law enforcement officers lawfully engaged in a use of force pursuant to the Force Liability Defense Act shall have immunity to civil and criminal liability as an affirmative defense.”
SECTION 4. CITIZEN USE OF FORCE
(a) Citizens and law enforcement alike shall have no duty to retreat when defending themselves pursuant to the provisions of this act.
(b) Citizens may use physical force to prevent an imminent threat of bodily injury, and to defend their property from unlawful incursion by private parties.
(c) Citizens may use deadly physical force to prevent an imminent threat of serious bodily injury or death to themselves.
(d) A citizen may use physical force to prevent an imminent threat of bodily injury to that of another innocent person.
(e) A citizen may use deadly physical force to prevent an imminent threat of serious bodily injury or death to that of another innocent person.
(f) In any instance, the use of force by a citizen in self defense or defense of a third party must be proportional to the threat faced and reasonable to the average person.
(g) A citizen may use deadly force to act in self-defense or defense of another to prevent an escape of a fleeing suspect only if the person has a good-faith belief that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury. If a subject is fleeing from the scene or otherwise is no longer directly posing a threat, a citizen may still use deadly force on the pretense that the subject has the potential to, or reasonably may continue to pose such a threat to life as they were before.
(h) A citizen cannot claim self defense if they were in the commission of an arrestable offense at the time of, or precipitating, the use of force; likewise, a citizen cannot claim defense of third party if said citizen would reasonably know that the third party was engaged in an arrestable offense, or precipitated the need for force via such offense.
SECTION 5. LAW ENFORCEMENT USE OF FORCE
(a) Law enforcement may use physical force as necessary to affect the lawful execution of their duties and to defend themselves and others from an imminent threat of bodily injury.
(b) Law enforcement may use deadly physical force when:
(i) An individual presents an imminent threat of serious bodily injury or death to the officer or the public.
(ii) An individual is fleeing after the commission of a violent felony, or an attempt thereof.
(iii) An individual is attempting to or has escape(d) from a correctional institution.
(iv) An individual is attempting to unlawfully enter property sensitive to the state as defined by statute.
(v) An individual is armed with a deadly weapon and is likely to use said weapon to inflict serious bodily injury or death on another.
(c) In all cases in which the use of force by a law enforcement officer is being reviewed by a court, the court shall review such force to determine if it was objectively reasonable to use said force given the totality of the facts and circumstances facing the officer at the time of the use of force without regard for hindsight.
(d) To employ such standard as described in Section 5c, the court shall determine if, using such standard, a reasonable officer of sound mind and training would have acted similarly. If it is determined they would have, the use of force is justified and immunity is granted to said officer for criminal and civil liability from that use of force.
SECTION 6. ENFORCEMENT
(a) This act shall be enforced by all law enforcement agencies, the National Guard, and the courts.
SECTION 7. ENACTMENT
(a) This act shall go into effect upon the completion of the constitutionally required processes.
SECTION 8. SEVERABILITY
(a) Should any part of this legislation be struck down and/or declared unenforceable, then that part shall be severed with the rest remaining in full force and effect unless all is struck down and/or declared unenforceable.
Chief Sponsors:
L_3ee, Speaker of the House