Blue Lives Matter Bill on its way to the House

House Bill 2469, the Blue Lives Matter Bill, is on its way to the House and one step closer to becoming law.
Today, News 25 reached out to the author of that bill Senator Sean Tindell of Gulfport. He says after a two hour debate and lively discussion, the bill passed the Senate.
Senator Tindell hopes within the next two weeks the bill will become law and better protect police officers, fire fighters, and emergency medical technicians.
Senator Tindell feels passionate about this bill after he says losing officers in Baton Rouge and Dallas solely for doing their jobs hit close to home. “If you assault somebody or attack somebody or commit any crime against somebody solely based on their race or religion then you’ll have an enhanced penalty and can serve up to twice your sentence. All we did, very simple, we just added members of the law enforcement community and the firefighters and the EMT’s to those lists of groups, if you will, that if you’re targeted solely based on being a part of it, the defendant’s going to get an extra penalty.”
There is opposition to the bill. Other senators fear police will act wrongly to black people, but Senator Tindell says the bill is meant to protect everyone.