Under the proposal from state Sen. Mark Finchem, R-Prescott, Arizona’s legal definition of a riot would be changed to include when two or more people “recklessly use force or violence” in a way that damages another person’s property. Currently, a riot is limited to when two or more people use force or violence to disturb the public peace.

That would mean protesters could get charged with a class 5 felony, which carries with it between 6 months and 2 years in prison. On top of that, the proposal would also add inciting a riot to the legal definitions of racketeering and conspiracy, which could allow prosecutors to charge protesters with organized crime felonies, lengthening a prison sentence even further… Rep. Nancy Gutierrez criticized the bill for seeking to make it more difficult for Arizonans to exercise their constitutional rights. The Tucson Democrat warned that criminalizing protests would dissuade people from making their voices heard.

“This is an anti protest bill,” she said. “We’ve seen a few of these this session and what they’re intending to do is make it harder for us to protest, to have our First Amendment right of free speech and protest.”

During a February debate of the proposal in the Senate, Democrats were similarly concerned about the impact on Arizonans seeking to exercise their First Amendment rights to assemble.

And some underscored the irony of the bill’s sponsor having attended the Jan. 6 riot. Sen. Analise Ortiz, D-Phoenix, said it was hypocritical to punish protests that involve property damage in Arizona while at the same time remaining silent about the fact that President Donald Trump pardoned more than one thousand people involved in ransacking the nation’s Capitol.