The news this week that Denver’s homicide rate is the third fastest-growing in the U.S. surprises few. Our state policymakers’ ongoing failure to protect us from expanding crime is encouraging Coloradans to look to themselves for protection. The latest effort to expand when lethal force can be used with legal impunity to include businesses is the predictable consequence of a belief that our state government has abdicated its primary role of keeping us safe. Yet, we should not do it.

Colorado’s historic and persistent crime rates today are mere statistical manifestations of what we increasingly feel in our communities: we are less safe. Each day, we are confronted with story upon story of another shooting, unabated car thefts, deaths on our highways and an overall sense of creeping lawlessness. And with good reason.

We have little faith that those with their hands on the levers of state government know – or even care about – what they are doing when it comes to matters of ensuring peace and public safety. We have watched successive legislative sessions devolve into a game of one-upmanship in Bizarro-world policy making.

Gun crimes out of control? Let’s legalize gun possession by drug dealers, car thieves and tens of thousands of other convicted felons.

Homelessness, drug addiction and overdose deaths surging? Let’s largely decriminalize drugs, including fentanyl, and keep the addicts on our streets, where they can “camp” and defecate on the sidewalk and get more drugs.

Violent juvenile crime reaching historic levels? Should we revisit the permissive policies that have broken a once-effective juvenile justice system? Hold my beer. Let’s arbitrarily limit the number of beds that can be used to keep violent juveniles off the streets to some number untethered to the amount of crime being committed. Oh yeah, and let’s pass a law making it harder for police to get confessions from the young criminals. Wait, one more: let’s treat 18- to 20-year-old violent criminals like they are 14 and get them out of prison early.

Gold medal in U.S. car thefts? Should we promise to jail the offenders? Nah. Let’s call car theft a felony, but keep it probation-eligible, and discourage setting a meaningful bond for offenders.

Coloradans see a crime blizzard, while Gov. Jared Polis tells us it’s just a few “middle-of-the-pack” flurries. The disconnected legislature acts like we are in a heat wave.

It can be no surprise that some legislators want to provide greater protection to those who are left to protect themselves. House Bill 23-1050 seeks to provide legal immunity to those Coloradans who use lethal force against intruders “at a place of business.” Currently, Colorado’s Make My Day law sets a very low bar for killing those who break into our homes while we and our families are in there. That is a good thing. A home is unique among all other places. It is where we should feel most safe. It is where the most important people in our lives tend to be. Our constitution provides the greatest protection from the government in our homes. Our Make My Day law is far more forgiving than traditional self-defense, which requires a reasonable belief about an imminent use of force. It matters not that the trespasser was merely looking to steal a TV or some other property. Inside their home, a person need not guess or care about anyone else’s motives.

The same standard should not be applied to a business. Our law has never treated businesses like homes. We should not seek to extend protections for the use of lethal force to property crimes. Likewise, the idea that my fellow shopper may incorrectly perceive some threat warranting the discharge of bullets while my unsuspecting family is looking for back-to-school supplies keeps me up at night. The right to bear arms does not come with a guarantee to bear brains. Our law already ensures a right to defend oneself and others under specific, imminent circumstances. Lowering that bar for customers in a big box store invites catastrophe.

Nonetheless, the political party responsible for facilitating this crime-permissive environment have assigned the bill to the colloquially – and ironically – named “Kill Committee.” It is unlikely to become law. The message is as unmistakable as it is ineffective: trust government, not yourselves. Exploding gun sales are an indictment of a failed government that has lost the trust of the many it ostensibly serves. Rather than focus on creating a safer, more law-abiding community with less fear, this legislature seems intent on depriving that same community of the means to defend itself from a resurgent, undeterred and recalcitrant criminal class.

This bill is but a symptom of a larger problem. Look for more gun sales. Anticipate more Coloradans carrying concealed guns. There will be greater acts of vigilantism. Coloradans aim to take matters into their own hands, and when that is denied them, they will leave. It has already started.

George Brauchler is the former district attorney for the 18th Judicial District. He also is an Owens Early Criminal Justice Fellow at the Common Sense Institute and president of the Advance Colorado Academy, which identifies, trains and connects conservative leaders in Colorado. He hosts The George Brauchler Show on 710KNUS Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Follow him on Twitter: @GeorgeBrauchler.