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.
In the long term? The homeless. Who will likely not stay homeless for long.
I dunno about you, but I met quite a few homeless people, and they are all the resourceful kind. They organize, they don’t hesitate to join forces, and they are damn resilient.
I was homeless for a few weeks in the summer about a decade ago, I slept in a park, during the day, and it was totally fine in the end, but if such law would have made me “legal to hunt”, I would have likely hunted back. Or at least died trying.
Being homeless doesn’t necessarily mean having no resource. For example, while I was in a crappy situation, and lost my rental overnight, I had savings. I had enough to buy a weapon and some ammo anyway, and in such situation, with nothing left to lose, I would have likely bitten the (metaphorical) bullet and found myself a new home. The confrontational way.
I’m guessing that this initiative will drive most homeless people into organized crime, and they will then have the capacity to eliminate entire small, remote, rural communities (of which there are plenty in Kentucky), including the tiny police forces, and establish a fortified settlement.
Pushing people around only works for as long as they are better off accepting it than fighting it. Push too much and you will have gangs and cartels on your hands.
Those people want the far west experience, and they should be weary of what they wish for. They might very well get it.
Edit: maybe I’m daydreaming. I dunno. This isn’t a hill I’m willing to die on, I just wish for what I wrote to be true. Time will tell.