Ron DeSantis
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis has his hands full with the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. It pretty much trashed southwest Florida and damaged homes all the way across the central part of the state.

As business owners and residents begin the massive cleanup process, he’s stressing law and order. And when discussing those who would take advantage of the destruction, the Governor noted that property owners had written “You loot, we shoot” on the plywood used to board up their buildings.

Florida Politics covered it . . .

As Florida recovers from Hurricane Ian, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a moral plea against looting that appears to have some firepower behind it.

Speaking near Fort Myers in the leveled community of Matlacha on Friday, the Republican Governor relayed one sight he saw in Punta Gorda in neighboring Charlotte County the day prior.

“They boarded up all the businesses, and there are people that wrote on their plywood, ‘you loot, we shoot,’” DeSantis said. “At the end of the day, we are not going to allow lawlessness to take advantage of this situation. We are a law-and-order state, and this is a law-and-order community, so do not think that you’re going to go take advantage of people who’ve suffered misfortune.”

You don’t hear many Governors mention “you loot, we shoot” these days. But DeSantis isn’t like many governors and given the reality on the ground, there’s no reason to play around with vultures who would take advantage of a mass tragedy.

Alleged looters in custody in Ft. Myers. Screen capture by Boch via Twitter.

The story continued . . .

The Governor also commented on the grit and resilience of the community and called for “all hands on deck” regarding the rule of law. However, his dispatch was choppy, making the overall statement unclear.

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said he had spoken at length to Attorney General Ashley Moody, who was also on the scene.

 “We are not going to tolerate — and I mean zero tolerance — when we say anyone that thinks they’re going to thrive on the residents of this county or state when we just took a horrific hit, I can guarantee you that is not going to happen,” Marceno said.

Scam artists will likely not get off easy either, judging from the law-and-order tone from the state officials.

The snowflakes writing the story to wrung their hands over DeSantis’ choice of words.

“You loot, we shoot,” isn’t even new in the hurricane context, used when Hurricane Harvey struck Houston and in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. But others see the phrase as stoking violence and division.

Violence and division? The only division will be between looters and law-abiding residents and business owners.

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45 COMMENTS

  2. Of course. If you loot or do any damage to property, our law enforcement and the owners of the business will shoot you and be rewarded for it. God Bless America!

  3. “At the end of the day, we are not going to allow lawlessness to take advantage of this situation. We are a law-and-order state, and this is a law-and-order community, so do not think that you’re going to go take advantage of people who’ve suffered misfortune.”

    It’s too bad that in the year 2020 when American cities were burned To The Ground by rioters. And innocent people were murdered where they stood. And the police were ordered to stand down and do nothing.

    It’s too bad you didn’t have more governors saying what Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is saying now.
    The much-hated, “Law & Order Republicans”, much hated by the Libertarians Liberals in the Left. Those Republicans are coming back.

    • Funny how many of those riots happened in Florida……….oh wait they started outside my workplace in Albany NY.

      • Florida really didn’t have many riots in 2020. I know, I’m here.

        Florida had LE out in force and DeSantis didn’t let happen what happened in a lot of states. When the riots first started there was some in Tampa I remember, but it didn’t last long and Tampa LE actually did their job.

        Like with Covid, DeSantis didn’t let the left bully him and Florida is much better off because of it.

      • That would require the Libertarians to openly support the police. As I remember they called them “Trumps secret police”. While rioters tried to burn a federal court house to the ground. With the people still inside it.

        No, they had their chance to support the police. They didn’t. In fact when the cops stand down and then the law abiding step in, now they are told only the police can intervine.

        Every law-abiding citizen should be able to shoot dead on sight any Criminal, they catch robing, raping, stealing, murdering, breaking into or vandalizing private property. The only purpose of the police is to come and document the death of a criminal.

        This “Libertarian” gets it.
        From 2020

        “Sure. Defund the Police. But no more taxation. No more gun control laws.” video 1 min long
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR4V8Wko9sY

      • Libertarians are NOT Liberals. They are for the rule of law.

        But of coarse Livertarians want no laws at the borders so that will be wide open with their blessing.

    • “when American cities were burned To The Ground“

      Would you please let me know specifically which cities were “burnt to the ground”, I’d really like to check out the crater.

        • Imagine being so disingenuous that you pretend like there’s no such thing as a figure of speech.

      • Well, MINOR Miner49er, Your Lefty ANTIFA sure did give it a try during the summer of 2020, remember?

      • Seattle had some serious damage – that is many store fronts were burned and the inside looted. While they weren’t actually “burnt to the ground” the overall damage was significant enough to be reported by even the Leftist media. I might add that a BLM “warlord” shot and killed an innocent bystander. I do not know if he was ever prosecuted. I’m guessing he was let go an hour after. If memory serves, people were not allowed into parts of the city for months due to the damage incurred by Leftist Terrorists.

      • Hey miner how about St. Paul, Mn… damages totaling 82million, 330 buildings damaged, 37 burned to the ground. Across the river damages in Mpls. amounted to 330 million dollars, with 1300 properties damaged, and nearly100 destroyed.
        And all because a drugged out felon succumbed to his fentanyl ingestion while resisting arrest… you really are one fucked up denier, aren’t you?

    • I don’t know for cure whether Florida is on this list, but some states allow lethal force to be brought to bear against those who are destroying or stealing property. You loot we shoot would be consistent with this law.

      • MS is one.
        Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-15. Homicide; justifiable homicide; use of defensive force; duty to retreat.

        Too long to post the complete text here, but you can look it up if interested.

  5. Don’t want to be shot? Then don’t do things that others would want to shoot you for, and be justified in doing so.

    Mind-blowing, I know.

  6. DeSantis has said and done things I don’t like. However, this one was exactly right.

    Last year, when several cities suffered riots, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd advised that peaceful protests were legal but rioting and looting were not. He said the residents of his county were encouraged to keep loaded guns and looters could expect to be shot.

  7. They’re teeing up the next argument the same way they have been in blue states.

    They’re hoping some “politically disadvantaged” looter gets hotted so that they can run with that story for weeks. It dovetails perfectly with their approach the the law in general and [further] opens an avenue of attack on DeSantis. To them, this is an opportunity to spread NYC/LA/Portland style chaos to FL for the purpose of offering a national, *equitable* solution to the chaos. Something normally unavailable to them in a state like Florida, but hey, never let that crisis go to waste, amirite?

    Given the past few years, I honestly wouldn’t be super shocked if it came out that certain groups actually moved people into Florida specifically to *advance the narrative* knowing damn right well that some of them might get DRTd and secretly hoping that they do.

    Afterall, “Having doomed spies, doing certain things openly for purposes of deception, and allowing our spies to know of them and report them to the enemy” is advantageous in many circumstances.

    Would it really be a stretch for the people who salivate about school shootings?

    • Those people know some “sacrifices” will have to be made to achieve utopia. Just as long as it isn’t them.

  9. Looters are low life scum. Akin to the far leftists, they want everyone else’s stuff instead of being honest and working for it.

    Vigilantism has the potential to turn bad, but when applied properly it sends the proper message, don’t screw over your fellow man and not expect consequences.

  10. ” ‘You loot, we shoot,’ isn’t even new in the hurricane context, used when Hurricane Harvey struck Houston and in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. But others see the phrase as stoking violence and division.”

    Translation into Human speak:

    ‘You loot, we shoot,’ isn’t even new in the hurricane context, used when Hurricane Harvey struck Houston and in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and when it happened the gangs and other criminals were not able to continue their crimes of raping, murdering, and pillaging and plundering. So be a good victim this time, let the gangs and other criminals enact their violence upon you and kill or rape you and let them take your stuff you spent your life paying for and gathering and need to live because if you don’t you will be stoking violence and division and we can’t have that now can we.

    Seriously, shooting a ‘looter’ who taking your stuff or is is trying to harm you is self defense. No one is saying go out and be a vigilante and hunt them down, but by golly when it comes to you pull the trigger.

    Rule # 1: It is not “stoking violence and division” to protect yourself, family, others in need, and your stuff from that element trying to take your lives or harm you or take your stuff during a disaster or otherwise. OK, now get and understand this, for those anti-gun who may read this and are too stupid or blind to enact the most basic human instinct there is and that being survival : PULL THE FRIGGING TRIGGER – YOU DID NOT INVITE THEM THERE, THEY CAME TO YOU. YOU HAVE NO OBLIGATION TO BE ALL SNOWFLAKY AND LET THEM HAVE THEIR WAY. THE LIBERAL AND DEMOCRAT ANTI-GUN WANT YOU TO DIE, WANT YOU TO BE HARMED, WANT YOUR STUFF TAKEN, RATHER THAN SEE YOU USE A FIREARM FOR DEFENSE. NOTICE HOW THE ANTI-GUN OFFER NO ALTERNATIVE FOR THOSE FEW SECONDS YOU HAVE AT MOST WHEN THAT THREAT APPEARS AND NOTICE THAT NOT A ONE OF THESE ANTI-GUN IDIOTS ARE GOING TO DO A SUPER HERO LANDING AND PROTECT YOU.

    Rule # 2: Enact Rule # 1, then reload.

    • The Kalthoff Repeater magazine capacity ranged between 6 to 30 shots. Hmmmm… a 30 ’round’ magazine in the 1630’s

  12. I personally dislike blanket statements about using force–and even deadly force at times–to thwart property thefts.

    I see two huge deficiencies in blanket statements (both for and against use of force).

    I believe it is just plain wrong to use deadly force against a petty thief, who is stealing something trivial such as a garden gnome. I am NOT defending thievery. I am simply saying that, “the punishment should fit the crime.”

    I also believe it is wrong to criminalize use of deadly force against a thief who is attempting to steal something which will devastate the property owner. Note that a thief who is stealing relatively inexpensive essential (life-saving) medication from a very poor person who does not have money to replace that medication could literally be devastating. Or a thief who is stealing $100 from someone who has no food and no more money to buy food could be quite devastating. I liken this to Old West laws which declared that thieves who wanted to steal a person’s horse were subject to the death penalty because stealing a person’s horse could literally be a death-sentence for the horse owner.

    In my opinion there is a happy medium. I believe we should be justified to point a firearm (without pulling the trigger) at any prowler or thief on our property. The reality of the matter is that we have no idea what that intruder’s intentions are. He/she could be there to steal a garden gnome or to rape the property owner. Or, the intruder may have had no intention of maiming/raping the property owner but suddenly decides to do just that when an unarmed property owner confronts them.

    Thus, I believe it should be lawful to brandish and/or point a firearm at an intruder. If the intruder immediately vacates, that is good enough and the property owner is NOT legally justified to shoot. If the intruder begins advancing on the armed property owner who is brandishing or pointing their firearm at the intruder, I believe the armed property owner should be legally justified to pull the trigger at that point.

    Disclaimer: the above discussion is my personal opinion–I am not an attorney and my commentary is NOT legal advice.

    • The problem with that mindset is, you, as the property defender have to sleep sometime, while their gang can wait you out.

      I don’t really have a problem with “You loot, we shoot” as an policy during a catastrophe, since if you could see what the reality is right now in Florida over the past few days, your tolerance to bullshit would be zero-point-zero percent.

      (I really need a little Bluetooth keyboard, iPhone typing sucks…)

  13. I’d say that if you shoot a looter who presents no direct threat to you physically and is not armed that you are on very dodgy ground legally and so you should be. Only the State or Federal authoritiesa have that right and only after due warning. For a governor to comew out withnthis sortn of crap thatb give free license to kill is beyond belief especially as there are probablyn hunreds of GUN OWNERS out there just looking for an excuse to slot some poor bugger nicking their television ffor which the should be insured anyway!

    • You know how to avoid being shot for looting? Don’t loot. Frustrate the hell out of all those evil gun owners and obey the law.

    • Albert: In Florida (and, probably, other states), it is legal to use deadly force to thwart a forcible felony. On YouTube, there is a video of Sheriff Grady Judd explaining to an ignorant journalist that it was proper for the intended victim of a carjacking to use deadly force to drive off the unarmed carjacker.

      In many states, someone who breaks into an occupied home or business is presumed to pose a deadly threat to the occupants. In my opinion, that implies that, during the summer 2021 riots, a business owner would have been on solid legal ground to shoot looters, in defense of self rather than property, as long as they had to break in to gain access.

    • Interesting vid…….

      https://www.foxnews.com/video/6312886338112

      Notice at the 0:10 point where the POS carjackoff is RETREATING from the Mom because she has her right hand not visible to the POS. It’s only after she walks out from behind the vehicle (showing both hands, unarmed) that he returns to being a carjackoff.

      I thought lil’dtard said pulling a gun will only get you killed.🤪

      I would bet if she had a firearm in her right hand when clearing the vehicle he would have continued on his hasty retreat.

      But Jerry in Ohio and the rest of the TTAG clownfarm knows better. 🤪

  15. A very well stated comment from a governor who should be president. I am fortunate to live in a state where Castle Doctrine and Stand Your Ground laws are strongly enforced. This is how it should be.

  16. Notice Ron-de-insane-ous did not mention arresting price gougers that are ripping off the poor. Evidently that is ok with this demagogue. After all it’s the Republican credo to even steal your grandmother’s last penny.

    • He doesn’t need to mention it. There are long-standing laws in Florida against price-gouging, but that is not the sort of crime that requires an immediate response by a citizen. Price gougers are better dealt with by regular law enforcement than by a citizen. For one thing, you need to take some time to review and be sure it’s actually price gouging, not just high prices. The more so in this day and age, when inflation alone is causing prices to sky-rocket.

      Your snark is misplaced. Your basic premises are erroneous.

    • He didn’t mention you shouldn’t drink urine either. That means he suggests you drink urine?

      Moron.

    • dacian, the dunderhead, What proof do you have that any one was “ripped off”? What price gouging? Seems you have forgotten about Bidenflation

    • Your comment is awaiting moderation
      Hey lil’d.

      He didn’t mention that a 357 Magnum revolver, loaded, cocked, finger on trigger, ISN’T great for removing ear wax.

      Why not try it! 😃

  17. “I would not take that chance. Florida is a Second Amendment state.”

    Um, aren’t ALL states supposed to be Second Amendment states?

  18. Lost power Thursday morning, cable, internet, cell towers gone, got cell back Saturday morning, got power and cable/internet at midnight last night and I’m on the East Coast near Daytona. Folks down Soutwest will be years getting their shit back. Had a generator ready to go kept the fridge going and ran a big window AC, cooked on grill, microwave, and a convection cooktop, local TV with antenna. Lots of flooding, house is still surrounded by water after 20 inches of rain in 28 hours, and I have 40 foot white oak down in the back yard with an 86 T-top and a 93 Notchback Mustang underneath it, probably lose the cars but have firewood forever. Neighbors look out for one another here… Looters get shot here; survivors get shot twice.

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