‘You Loot, We Shoot’: DeSantis Warns Criminals Not to Target Hurricane Victims

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has warned opportunistic thieves not to target residents or ransack homes in the wake of Hurricane Ian, telling a press conference that Floridians are well-aware of their Second Amendment rights while noting a boarded-up business sign reading “you loot, we shoot.”

DeSantis issued the stark warning during multiple press conferences on Friday, including one in Fort Myers, where he remarked about seeing the sign directed at would-be looters displayed at a business in nearby Punta Gorda.

“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,” the governor added.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in Surfside, Fla., on July 03, 2021. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

During a press conference in St. Augustine later in the day, DeSantis reminded reporters that Florida is a “Second Amendment state” and that thieves looking to ransack people’s homes should beware.

“You never know what may be lurking behind somebody’s home,” the Republican governor said starkly. “And I would not want to chance that if I were you—given that we’re a Second Amendment state.”

Florida has so-called “stand-your-ground” and “castle doctrine” laws on its books, which allow people who feel a reasonable threat of death or bodily injury or who confront home invaders to respond with force rather than retreat.

‘Florida Will Not Tolerate Looters’

In a post on Twitter, Florida’s Attorney General Ashley Moody shared a video showing a group of people being arrested for looting.

“Florida will not tolerate looters taking advantage of [Hurricane

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