Heading off picketing of funerals for Tucson shooting victims, Arizona's Legislature unanimously passed emergency legislation that would outlaw protests at or near funeral sites, KPHO-TV reports.

Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, is likely to sign the bill, which would take effect immediately.

The move is aimed at stopping the fringe, anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, which planned to picket Thursday's funeral for 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green. The small, fundamentalist congregation has picketed military funerals, calling the deaths God's punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.

Christina was one of six people killed in the shooting Saturday that injured U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 13 others.

The bill, patterned after an Ohio law, would establish a 300-foot protection zone around a funeral from one hour before until one hour after, The Arizona Republic explains.

(Posted by Michael Winter)