Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Wednesday warned looters that his state’s residents might gun them down in the event that they catch them invading their properties following the devastating influence of Hurricane Idalia.
“I’ve seen signs in different people’s yards in the past after these disasters, and I would say it’s probably here: ‘you loot, we shoot,’” he stated throughout a press convention in Perry. “You never know what’s behind that door if you go break into somebody’s house.”
“These are people that are going to be able to defend themselves,” he continued.
DeSantis added that many individuals on this space of the state are supporters of gun rights, noting that trespassers shall be held accountable.
“People have a right to defend their property,” he stated. “This part of Florida, you got a lot of advocates and proponents of the Second Amendment.”
The 2024 Republican presidential candidate was booed at a vigil for victims of Saturday’s “racially motivated” capturing in Jacksonville, as many blame him for loosening gun restrictions throughout the state and implementing “anti-woke” insurance policies.
“Look, at the end of the day, the governor has blood on his hands,” Rep. Angie Nixon (D-Fla.) instructed MSNBC on Sunday.
“He has had an attack, an all-out attack on the Black community with his anti-woke policies, which we know very well was nothing more than a dog whistle to get folks up and riled up in the way in which it just happened yesterday,” Nixon added.
DeSantis additionally drew fireplace for calling the shooter a “major-league scumbag” as a substitute of describing him as a racist.
Now, the governor faces a brand new problem in his response to the storm as his 2024 marketing campaign has up to now suffered setbacks and failed to attract consideration.
Florida was one of many states most affected by Idalia because it made landfall there on Wednesday as a Class 3 hurricane. Streets have been flooded, vehicles submerged, and hundreds of residents have been left with out energy.
This isn’t the primary time DeSantis has warned pillagers they could possibly be shot. Final yr, following the passage of lethal Hurricane Ian, the governor referenced the “You loot, we shoot” indicators he noticed exterior some companies in Punta Garda, including that Florida is a “law and order state.”
“I would not want to chance that if I were you, given that we’re a Second Amendment state,” DeSantis stated on the time.
