A Florida lawmaker wants the state to enact a stand your ground-style law against a scourge of what he describes as bears that are on crack kicking peoples doors down in the middle of the night.

At a hearing last week held by the House Infrastructure Strategies Committee, Republican state Rep. Jason Shoaf urged his colleagues to pass House Bill 87 , which would allow Floridians to shoot bears if they fear imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury.

Shoaf introduced the bill, titled Taking of Bears, last September, The Guardian reports. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission , black bears are the only species of bear found in Florida.

This bill is not about bears, he told the committee last week.

Bears are cute and cuddly and an amazing creature those arent the bears were talking about in this bill. Were talking about the ones that are on crack, and they break your door down and theyre standing in your living room growling and tearing your house apart.

So when you run into one of these crack bears, you should be able to shoot it. Period, Shoaf said, adding that the bears have become a major problem in the panhandle.

He also lamented that Floridians can fatally shoot other people without fear of reprisal but arent afforded the same liberty when it comes to bears.

If a person approached you in your carport at night and you shot them, theres no chance youd be arrested, he said. But with an animal, you are putting your life, your future, in the hands of a wildlife officer and their decision-making at that moment.

A staff analysis of HB 87 blamed human-bear conflicts in Florida on the increasingly fragmented natural habitat of the states bears, leading the animals to encounter unsecured garbage or other human-provided food sources. The report made no note of bears ingesting illicit drugs.