Florida's Governor is proposing to expand the state's Stand Your Ground law to allow armed citizens to shoot and possibly kill anyone they suspect of rioting.
Ron DeSantis has drafted so-called 'anti-mob' legislation which comes in direct response to several months of unrest in the U.S. this past summer which often led to rioting and looting both in Florida and other states around the country.
But the widening of the law could allow armed citizens to shoot and potentially kill anyone they suspect of looting and not just if they feel their own personal safety to be at risk.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has drafted 'anti-mob' legislation that would expand Florida's Stand Your Ground law
DeSantis' new legislation is an attempt to prevent 'violent and disorderly assemblies' by permitting violence against anyone involved in the 'interruption or impairment' of a business.
The draft version of the law states this can include someone 'suspected of a burglary within 500 feet of violent or disorderly assembly.'
The legislation also includes measures that would make protesting that sees traffic being blocked classed as a third degree felony.
And immunity would be granted to drivers who unintentionally kill or injure protesters who were blocking traffic.
It would allow armed citizens to shoot suspected looters or anyone engaged in 'criminal mischief' that disrupts a business. Pictured, protestors form a line in front of a CVS store in Miami in May to avoid people breaking the store windows during a rally in response to the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died while in police custody in Minneapolis
One former prosecutor is unhappy at the proposals.
'It allows for vigilantes to justify their actions. 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,' said former Miami-Dade County prosecutor, Denise Georges to the Miami Herald.
The law would also allow the state to withhold funds from local governments and cities that cut police budgets.
DeSantis, who was re-elected as Governor last week and is a loyal supporter of President Trump has sent copies of the legislation to the state's Senate Committee on Criminal Justice and the House Judiciary Committee.
'It's clear that the Trump beauty pageant is still going on with governors and senators, who all want to be the next Trump, and the governor is clearly a very good contestant.' Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said to the Herald.
The expansion comes in response to police-brutality protests that erupted across Florida and the rest of the U.S. this past summer. Pictured, protesters gather at Fort Lauderdale Police Department during a rally in response to the death of George Floyd
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