Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis might know something the rest of us don’t, putting forward “anti-mob” legislation that would substantially extend the state’s “stand your ground” law into the territory of rioting and looting, the Miami Herald reported on Nov. 10.
Florida’s “stand your ground” law currently allows people to use deadly force to defend themselves if they think they’re in lethal danger from another person, says the Fort Myers News-Press.
Critics said the bill would encourage would-be vigilantes, despite its obvious value for discouraging looters.
“It allows for vigilantes to justify their actions,” Denise Georges, a former Miami-Dade County prosecutor who had handled “stand your ground” cases, told the Herald. “It also allows for death to be the punishment for a property crime — and that is cruel and unusual punishment. We cannot live in a lawless society where taking a life is done so casually and recklessly.”
Only … nor can we live in one where mobs are free to sack and pillage at will while innocent citizens wait on defunded police to intervene.
DeSantis’ proposal expands the “stand your ground” legislation to property crime and allow the use of force against “violent or disorderly assemblies” or “criminal mischief” that take place within 500 feet of a business that is experiencing “interruption or impairment” due to the disturbance, according to the Herald.
The proposed law would also make it a “third-degree felony to block traffic during a protest, offer immunity to drivers who claim to have unintentionally killed or injured protesters who block traffic, and withhold state funds from local governments that cut law enforcement budgets,” reported the Herald, which said it obtained emails and a copy of the bill draft.
