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If a rural property owner shoots someone on their farm, prosecutors should have to consider the shooter’s proximity to police and whether they thought the intruder was on drugs before charging them, UCP Leader Jason Kenney said Wednesday.

“We’re not advocating for vigilantism here. People should not take the law into their own hands, but they have every right to use reasonable force in self-defence, especially when they’re in a remote area and feeling vulnerable,” he said.

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Kenney made the comments as he unveiled his party’s crime platform Wednesday morning at a farm outside Edmonton, saying prosecutors must “take into account the unique vulnerability of people in rural areas.”

“We need to let rural Albertans … know they do have the legal authority under the Criminal Code to use reasonable force in self-defence,” he said.

The change to the Crown prosecutor manual would come alongside implementation of the UCP’s rural crime strategy.