Not Exaggerating: Dem Lawmaker’s Bill Would Make It Legal to Attack Police Officers

A public defender-turned-public lawmaker is turning her sights squarely on her state’s police officers.

Illinois Democratic Rep. Lisa Davis has introduced a bill into the legislature that would essentially legalize attacks on law enforcement officers if the attacker is having a “mental health episode.”

And judging by the social media backlash, the sane part of the public thinks the idea is as crazy as it sounds.

What will they come up with next?
Illinois state Rep. Lisa Davis has introduced a bill that would legalize attacks on police officers by those appearing to have a mental health episode. pic.twitter.com/wOboosveZK

— Blanche Victoria (@tammytabby) March 13, 2025

Davis’ bill, HB 3458, would provide a “defense to aggravated battery when the individual battered is a peace officer and the officer responded to an incident in which the officer interacted with a person whom a reasonable officer could believe was having a mental health episode and the person with whom the officer interacted has a documented mental illness and acted abruptly.”

What could go wrong? A lot if you’re a cop.

Of course, it’s not crazy by itself to consider mental illness when it comes to criminal culpability. But Illinois already has a law on the books declaring that “a person is not criminally responsible for conduct if at the time of such conduct, as a result of mental disease or mental defect, he lacks substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct.”

What’s crazy about Davis’ bill is that it’s specifically written for those who attack “peace officers” — the term in Illinois statutes for law enforcement.

Reporting on Davis’ bill, WTVO-TV in Rockford, Illinois, noted that under current state law, it is considered an aggravated battery if an individual attacks a “police officer, fireman, security officer, correctional officer, or Department of Human Services employee.”

Davis’ bill would only exclude police officers from that mix — and it’s probably purely a coincidence that the freshman lawmaker is married to a firefighter, according to her legislative biography.

So, in essence, she’s creating an unnecessary legal defense for a crime committed against one very specific part of the population — and it happens to be the part of the population filled with men and women dedicated to protecting their fellow citizens from harm.

There’s no way to think of that other than as crazy. And many social media commenters weighed in.

Rep Lisa Davis, Dem Illinois state lawmaker, must have been having a ‘’mental health episode,’ when she submitted a bill that would make it legal to attack police officers, if you are having a mental health episode!

— Jason Warden (@KeepWarden) March 13, 2025

@CookCoDefender Illinois Dem lawmaker pushes bill to legalize attacks on police for people having mental health episode
Critics say the bill would embolden those who attack police
+it would appear Rep. Lisa Davis is having a mental health episode and needs to be checked.

— NotBorg (@MagaDplorable) March 13, 2025

Illinois Dem lawmaker pushes bill to legalize attacks on police for people having mental health episode https://t.co/e2dr3KPWra #FoxNews
Legalize attacks on police, then plead insane.
Rep. Lisa Davis of Illinois is dangerously ill.

— Ginny Fidler  (@KathyMschotschi) March 13, 2025

It should come as no surprise that Davis hails from Cook County, the home of the legendarily corrupt city of Chicago, the crime-ridden site of the Democratic convention that nominated Kamala Harris to the presidency — where leftist Democrats reign supreme.

It should come as no surprise that she’s a public defender — a woman who is paid by the state to assist criminals to escape consequences is also being paid as a lawmaker to evidently do everything she can to make the streets more dangerous for her constituents.

And, really, it should come as no surprise that her bill doesn’t include a defense for criminals who attack, say, women, or state lawmakers, or women who are state lawmakers.

Davis might have to deal with the consequences of her beliefs personally then.

The bill could simply disappear. Davis is in her first year in the legislature, and it has only two co-sponsors, so even if it wasn’t obviously insane, it might not have much of a chance of getting through the legislative session.

But it’s one more mark against the state of Illinois, which once nurtured the career of the giant of American history known as Abraham Lincoln. Now, in contrast, the state is cursing the country with the likes of Sen. Dick Durbin, Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, and the clearly up-and-coming Lisa Davis.

And Illinois voters keep electing them?

That’s the craziest part of all.

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