DeSantis Stands Up for Hurricane Victims: ‘You Loot, We Shoot’
CV NEWS FEED // Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a strong warning to people looking to take advantage of those struggling in the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia: “You loot, we shoot.”
As The Daily Wire reported, the governor made his remarks during a Wednesday press conference “when talking about reports that some people had tried to loot in the wake of a powerful hurricane that hit the state.”
“I’ve told all of our personnel at the state level, you protect people’s property, and we are not going to tolerate any looting in the aftermath of a natural disaster,” said DeSantis:
It’s just ridiculous that you would try to do something like that on the heels of an almost Category 4 hurricane hitting this community. I’ll also just remind potential looters
…
you never know what you’re walking into. People have a right to defend their property. This part of Florida, you’ve got a lot of advocates and some proponents of the Second Amendment, and I’ve seen signs in different people’s yards in the past after these disasters.
And I would say probably here: You loot, we shoot. You never know what’s behind that door.
“If you go break into somebody’s house and you’re trying to loot, these are people … are going to be able to defend themselves and their families,” DeSantis explained. “So, I would not do it. We’re going to hold you accountable from the law enforcement perspective at a minimum, and it could even be worse than that, depending on what’s behind that door.”
“So let’s all band together and lift people up and not take advantage of a difficult situation,” he suggested.
On the campaign trail as a 2024 presidential candidate, DeSantis has repeatedly asserted his strong “law and order” stance.
In early August, he suspended Democratic State Attorney Monique Worrell, citing her “incompetence” and “neglect of duty.”
As CatholicVote then reported:
Worrell had faced mounting criticism for refusing to fully prosecute many crimes. She was elected in 2020 to be the State Attorney of the 9th Judicial Circuit of Florida. Her campaign was boosted by a “last-minute” million-dollar fundraising blitz from a Political Action Committee (PAC), which was in turn largely funded by multi-billionaire George Soros.
DeSantis had previously dismissed another Soros-backed state attorney last year.
During the first Republican primary debate on August 23, the governor touted these two moves as part of his tough-on-crime record. “When we had two of these district attorneys in Florida, elected with Soros funding, who said they wouldn’t do their job, I removed them from their posts,” he said. “They are done.”
