The Alabama House overwhelmingly passed a bill Tuesday that would make murdering a police officer, corrections officer, first responder or child under 14 years old subject to the death penalty.

"If you murder one of them, we're going to prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law," said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Chris Sells, R-Greenville. He said the bill was inspired by a rash of killings of police officers across the country a few years ago.

The bill passed the House by a vote of 72-20 with six abstentions.

Rep. Tommy Haynes, R-Scottsboro, praised Sells for introducing the bill.

"First responders, police officers - they're born with a servant's heart. Their full intent is to help people, to make a bad situation and hopefully make it a better situation," Haynes said. "It's just not right for these servants to have to worry about somebody bushwhacking them."

Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, said that while she supported the bill, she said it reminded her of a double standard after a bill she sponsored to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the hate crimes law was defeated because Republicans argued that "a victim is a victim and [those characteristics] should not matter."

"Do you see how that is unfair?" Todd asked Sells. "And I am aggravated, and one of the reasons I'm not going to be here next year [in the House] is the hypocrisy that I see. ... My bill got killed on an argument that applies to your bill, but we're going to pass it."

The bill goes on to the Senate for consideration.