Florida governor Ron DeSantis has a message for anyone who is thinking about looting in Hurricane Idalia’s wake, and it landed Wednesday with a double-barreled BOOM.
Speaking to reporters with National Guardsmen behind him, DeSantis kept the message short and not-so-sweet: “You loot, we shoot.”
“This part of Florida,” he said, speaking from the Big Bend on Florida’s Gulf coast where Idalia made land, “you’ve got a lot of advocates of the Second Amendment.” He continued, “If you go break into somebody’s house and you’re trying to loot, these are people that are going to be able to defend themselves and their families, so I would not do it.”
DeSantis also said that looters “would be held accountable from a law enforcement perspective at a minimum.” Maybe you won’t get shot by a homeowner, but maybe you’ll get arrested by a friendly deputy.
Here’s the clip.
DESANTIS ISSUES WARNING TO POTENTIAL LOOTERS
“This part of Florida, you’ve got a lot of advocates of the Second Amendment…You loot, we shoot. You never know what’s behind that door.” pic.twitter.com/U5xmVrVTdu
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) August 30, 2023
Does that message sound familiar? It should. Last October, when Hurricane Ian was having its nasty way with the Sunshine State, DeSantis issued a similar warning. “We are a second amendment state,” he said, so “don’t even think about looting, don’t even think about taking advantage of people in this vulnerable situation.”
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“I can tell you in the state of Florida, you never know what may be lurking behind somebody’s home. And I would not want to chance that, if I were you, given that we are a second amendment state.”
Florida did not have any major looting problems after Ian, and I’d wager it won’t be a problem once Idalia has completely passed.
Prior to landfall, DeSantis prepped his state by mobilizing National Guardsmen and pre-deploying electrical workers to restore power. Responding to emergencies and national disasters is one of the things government can actually do well, given proactive leadership that knows what it’s doing. Watching Florida’s response during these last two hurricanes has been a welcome reminder of that, following two years of COVID-19 panic and lockdowns led by our expert class in Washington.
Some are already accusing DeSantis of playing politics by highlighting his competence during the storm. What’s left unsaid is that he would have no politics to play if he’d screwed things up.
Forgive the crude language in this last item, but I just had to share it with you.
DeSantis talking to looters: pic.twitter.com/UfFGTztt8C
— Prison Mitch (@MidnightMitch) August 30, 2023
If freedom sounds like fireworks on the Fourth of July, maybe property rights sound something like the action on a 12-gauge shotgun.
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