LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Safer Kentucky Act would address violent crime on several levels.

There are nearly 50 pieces to House Bill 5. Many of those pieces include changing other laws, like increasing the penalty for certain crimes. It would also strengthen "shopkeeper's privilege," by allowing business owners to stop someone from stealing.

"I just think people need to think twice before they rob businesses," Evan Burkhead, owner of Vapor Lab, said.

Burkhead owns several of Vapor Lab shops across the Louisville area. One of them was broken into on more than one occasion last year, costing him thousands of dollars.

"We work hard to provide for our employees, for the community, you know," Burkhead said. "It's not like we just have the money laying around for this to happen."

The bill, better known as the "Safer Kentucky Act," would allow business owners like Burkhead to use a reasonable amount of force necessary to protect themselves and/or their products from shoplifters, prohibit the escape of a person detained for theft, or prevent the loss of goods for sale. It would also provide civil and criminal protections for business owners and employees.

"You can't go beat someone up with a baseball bat or kill them because they're stealing something, but you have the duty to try to detain that person 'til the cops are called," Rep. Kevin Bratcher, R-Louisville, said.

Bratcher is one of nearly 50 Republican legislators sponsoring the bill. It also includes a "three-strikes rule," which would increase the punishment for someone convicted of a third violent felony to life in prison with no chance for probation or parole.

"Society has got to say you can't be in this wonderful, free society anymore if you can't control yourself and quit harming other people," Bratcher said.

The plan aims to curb violent crime in Kentucky. The bill also would expand the definitions of murder, manslaughter and drug trafficking, and create a new charge for carjacking.

"I don't want people to be harmed out there," Bratcher said.

However, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Kentucky criticized several elements of the bill, including the "three-strikes" measure.

Kungu Njuguna, ACLU-KY policy strategist, said in a statement:

"This bill will not make Kentuckians safer. Bills like this give the illusion of "law and order" while continuing to punish vulnerable populations and add to Kentucky's incarceration crisis. Decades of data tells us increased penalties do nothing to deter criminal activity, but investing in communities does.

"Mandatory sentences and penalties don't let prosecutors and judges do their jobs. They are the people who are face to face with these issues, and we shouldn't force them to incarcerate people when there are other solutions. Rather than spending time and energy trying, once again, to incarcerate our way out of problems, let's focus on proactive legislation that diverts people from the criminal legal system to treatment and recovery, mental health services, housing assistance, and other community supports."

Some, though, are optimistic that harsher punishments will stop people from committing these crimes.

"If that's what it takes, that's what it takes," Burkhead said.

To read the version of the bill, introduced last week, click here.

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