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PHOENIX — State lawmakers refused on Monday to make criminals out of members of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and other armed groups patrolling the Mexican border.

The vote to kill House Bill 2286 came after more than four hours of often-heated testimony and accusations over who was calling whom racists or vigilantes.

Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, acknowledged that her measure was aimed largely at the Minuteman group. She even showed videos to members of the House Committee on Homeland Security and Property Rights, which she said depicted Minuteman members rounding up border crossers.

Chris Simcox, state director of the Minuteman group, said the videos were misleading.

He said his organization does not detain illegal immigrants. And Simcox said the group does background checks on applicants to weed out members of hate groups.

Sinema ultimately conceded to Simcox that she had no evidence that members of his organization are racists.

But she said they still qualify as vigilantes because they were taking law enforcement into their own hands. Simcox preferred to define his organization as "the nation's largest vigilant neighborhood-watch group."

Sinema's legislation would have made it a felony for someone not affiliated with law enforcement to patrol to "detect alleged illegal activity" while armed.

Rep. Warde Nichols, R-Chandler, said Sinema's legislation ignores basic constitutional rights. "The Minutemen, I believe, have First and Second Amendment rights to be there, to carry their weapons, the right to assemble, freedom of speech," he said.

Sinema, however, said those rights are not absolute. For example, state law prohibits people from carrying weapons onto school grounds.

And Rep. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, said some groups, although he wasn't naming them, are dangerous, as shown by hate mail and threats to Sinema and other legislators who don't see border and immigration issues the same way.

At one point, Sinema asked Simcox if he was concerned because the first group ever to patrol the border in this country was the Ku Klux Klan.

It was disappointing, Simcox said, that people continue to look "for the bogeyman and portray a group of patriots and well-intentioned citizens who want nothing more to be relieved from duty by their representatives in the federal government doing their job."

Nichols said Sinema's legislation would have "a devesting, chilling effect" on some neighborhood-watch groups.

Monday's hearing resulted in about a dozen additional police officers in and around the House hearing room because of threats to Sinema after she introduced her bill.