Neighborly reminder from the folks in Naples Park to would-be looters that FL is a 2A state. #NaplesFL pic.twitter.com/yx24ujERsm
— Dan Proft (@DanProft) October 1, 2022
You loot, we shoot
The spray-painted signs on beaten-up chunks of plywood or cardboard start to appear after every hurricane, leaning against wind-blasted trees or what’s left of a home. They are already out in Central Florida, just days after the passing of catastrophic Hurricane Ian. The difference is, it’s no idle threat, and FL Governor Ron DeSantis wants folks to make no mistake about it if their intentions lean towards thievery and scavenging – it could end badly for them.
DESANTIS: “Don’t even think about looting, don’t event think of taking advantage of people in this vulnerable situation… I would not want to chance that if I were you given that we’re a second amendment state.”
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 1, 2022
The governor was in the decimated island town of Matlacha on Friday, talking about what he’d seen in Punta Gorda the day before.
…“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.”
Carmen Marceno, Sheriff of hard-hit Lee County (home to Ft. Myers, Sanibel and Pine Islands, Cape Coral, et al.) was at the gathering, too. He said he’d spoken with FL Attorney General Ashley Moody, and there would be no coddling of lawbreakers. The man means business.
…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.
…About 85% of Lee County customers are without power, according to statistics released from the Florida Public Service Commission at noon. That, in part, has required delivering messages to the community in person.
Law enforcement has community response units on the ground to deliver water, information and security.
“Most importantly, safety and security as always,” Marceno said. “I guarantee you, we will be out here in full force, and any person that makes that horrific error that thinks they’re going to do something to one of my residents in my county, I guarantee you it’ll be swift incarceration immediately with no tolerance.”
The Fort Myers police are reminding citizens to stay off the roads – both for their own safety and to facilitate rescues, aid delivery, and clean-up – and that there is a curfew in effect.
STAY OFF THE ROADWAYS ?
We understand that residents want to check on their belongings and families, but we urge you to STAY OFF local roadways. There is a curfew in effect‼️ Being on the roadways is hindering response law enforcement and public safety response. pic.twitter.com/8HkJt1c32L
— Fort Myers Police (@fortmyerspolice) September 29, 2022
Go figure – the people disregarding the curfew always seem to be the problem.
Sheriff’s deputies told me Thursday afternoon these people were arrested for looting on Fort Myers Beach. pic.twitter.com/j8JKRremlP
— Gage Goulding – NBC2 (@GageGoulding) September 30, 2022
As soon as the governor’s remarks hit the airwaves, the usual suspects began hyperventilating in the most hyperbolic way, even for them.
Why does Joy Reid automatically assume that looters are black?
Isn’t that racist? pic.twitter.com/bSnImwHDGP— Leftism (@LeftismForU) October 2, 2022
Yeah…yeah, she went there. How, I have no idea…
“When the looting starts, the shooting starts.”—segregationist Miami sheriff Walter E. Headley, 1967
Didn’t take DeSantis long to return to form.https://t.co/8FJKyzQY1G https://t.co/uS5jbrx29S
— Joy-Ann (Pro-Democracy) Reid ? (@JoyAnnReid) October 1, 2022
…On Saturday, the host of MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” tweeted that DeSantis telling people not to loot and warning they might be shot by gun-carrying Floridians had the same tone as “segregationist Miami sheriff Walter E. Headley” infamously saying, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts” in the ’60s.
In addition, Reid’s tweet linked to an NPR article about the racist history, connecting it to vicious segregationists and anti-Black politicians such as Eugene “Bull” Conner. She mentioned how DeSantis’ words show he’s returned to that “form.”
Governor DeSantis warning off potential lawbreakers is just like Bull Connor? *blinkblink* So far, the only “looters” who’ve been caught are pasty-faced white kids breaking into the liquor aisle of a corner gas station, but HEY! For the sake of firing up Joy’s seven viewers, let’s pretend there’s going to be open season and wholesale slaughter of POCs on the rubble-strewn landscape of Central Florida, thanks to gun-crazed rednecks empowered by DeathSantis. She would be over the moon.
Perhaps if Joy Reid had had her home blasted to smithereens, and was trying desperately to hold on to the bits of her life that were left, like this poor lady…
…A resident of Bonita Beach, Natalie Sablina, posted a photo on Facebook showing a group of looters going through boats that had been blown out of the water by the storm.
Sablina said that she also saw a group looting a townhouse in the town saying: ‘One luxury townhome complex has garages open to let water out and this gang gave us the most horrible look – like it is their bounty and we better not get in their way.’
She also wrote: ‘People can be such trash. I have heard of looting but to see it personally today was more depressing than property damage.’
…she wouldn’t be so smug. It’s easy when you live in a protected bubble.
Why doesn’t she try fundraising? I know she’s not going to get her hands dirty handing out water bottles and MREs in the uncomfortable heat. So do something else productive to help people in real distress, rather than foment hate and discontent. Unless that’s all you’ve got.
The disgraceful fever dreams these Leftists engage in, when their lives would be so much easier and they’d be much happier people if they weren’t looking for the boogie-man under the bed trying to parse every utterance from every single person who annoys them on earth. They might actually have time to contribute something to society! Make this a better world, instead of the cesspool we’re dealing with now, thanks to their constant baseless agitation.
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