Big Sky Times

Bill Increases Punishment for Criminals Targeting Officers

U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines and 28 of his Senate Republican colleagues today introduced the “Back the Blue Act,” which would increase penalties for criminals who target Montana law enforcement officers and provide new tools for officers to protect themselves.

“An attack on law enforcement is not only an attack on the Montana men and women who put their lives on the line every day to protect us, but an attack on the rule of law and for that reason it merits strong sentencing guidelines,” said Daines. “I will always back the blue and stand up for Montana’s brave law enforcement officers protecting our families and communities.”

The “Back the Blue Act” will:

Strengthen Laws to Protect Police Officers

• Creates a new federal crime for killing, attempting to kill, or conspiring to kill a federal judge, federal law enforcement officer, or federally funded public safety officer. The offender would be subject to the death penalty and a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years if death results; the offender would otherwise face a minimum sentence of 10 years.
• Creates a new federal crime for assaulting a federally funded law enforcement officer with escalating penalties, including mandatory minimums, based on the extent of any injury and the use of a dangerous weapon. However, no prosecution can be commenced absent certification by the Attorney General that prosecution is appropriate.
• Creates a new federal crime for interstate flight from justice to avoid prosecution for killing, attempting to kill, or conspiring to kill a federal judge, federal law enforcement officer, or federally funded public safety officer. The offender would be subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years for this offense.

Create a Specific Aggravating Factor for Federal Death Penalty Prosecutions

• Clarifies that the murder or attempted murder of a law enforcement officer or first responder is a statutory aggravating factor for purposes of the federal death penalty.

Limit Federal Habeas Relief for Murders of Law Enforcement Officers

• Imposes time limits and substantive limits on federal courts’ review of challenges to state-court convictions for crimes involving the murder of a public safety officer, when the public safety officer was engaged in the performance of official duties or on account of the performance of official duties. These changes are consistent with the fast-track procedures created in 1996, which are applied to federal death penalty cases.

Expand Self-Defense and Second Amendment Rights for Law Enforcement Officers

• Allows law enforcement officers, subject to limited regulation, to carry firearms into federal facilities and other jurisdictions where such possession is otherwise prohibited.

Original source can be found here.