{"id":61731,"date":"2020-11-12T07:47:06","date_gmt":"2020-11-12T13:47:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=61731"},"modified":"2020-11-12T07:47:06","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T13:47:06","slug":"61731","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=61731","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

(Florida governor) DeSantis Pushes To Expand Stand Your Ground Law To Allow Citizens To Defend Against Rioters, Looters<\/a><\/p>\n

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has reportedly drafted \u201canti-mob\u201d legislation that would expand the state\u2019s Stand Your Ground law to allow armed citizens defend themselves against violent rioters and looters.<\/p>\n

Written after violent rioters caused billions of dollars of damage to America\u2019s cities over the summer, the proposal would expand the list of under Florida\u2019s self-defense law to justify the use of force against rioters who engage in looting or arson that \u201cresults in the interruption or impairment of a business operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe draft legislation put specifics behind DeSantis\u2019 pledge in September to crack down on \u2018violent and disorderly assemblies,’\u201d the Tampa Bay Times\u00a0reported<\/a>. \u201cOther key elements of DeSantis\u2019 proposal would enhance criminal penalties for people involved in \u2018violent or disorderly assemblies,\u2019 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The draft,\u00a0obtained<\/a>\u00a0by the Miami Herald, has not yet been filed as an official bill in the Florida House or Senate.<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s Stand Your Ground law \u201celiminated the duty of a person to retreat before using force to counter a threat \u2014 which critics say fosters a Wild West shoot-first, ask-questions-later mentality,\u201d the Miami Herald\u00a0reported<\/a>. \u201cIt also gave judges more leeway to grant \u2018immunity\u2019 to someone they believed acted in self-defense before ever letting a case get to the jury.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2017, Florida lawmakers changed the law, forcing prosecutors to shoulder the burden of disproving a defendant\u2019s claims of self-defense,\u201d the paper added. \u201cProsecutors must prove by \u2018clear and convincing\u2019 evidence that someone was not acting in self-defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

While many conservatives praised the idea, not everyone was thrilled.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt allows for vigilantes to justify their actions,\u201d former Miami-Dade County prosecutor Denise Georges\u00a0said<\/a>. \u201cIt also allows for death to be the punishment for a property crime \u2014 and that is cruel and unusual punishment. We cannot live in a lawless society where taking a life is done so casually and recklessly.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat\u2019s interesting to see is Gov. Ron DeSantis has so much time on his hands that he can craft legislation to address an imaginary issue in the state of Florida,\u201d state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D-Orlando) said<\/a>. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a crisis with riots or with looters. What we do have is millions of Floridians pushed into poverty and unemployment as a result of the economic consequences of coronavirus.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Florida governor) DeSantis Pushes To Expand Stand Your Ground Law To Allow Citizens To Defend Against Rioters, Looters Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has reportedly drafted \u201canti-mob\u201d legislation that would expand the state\u2019s Stand Your Ground law to allow armed citizens defend themselves against violent rioters and looters. Written after violent rioters caused billions of … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,29,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rkba","category-safety","category-self-defense"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61731"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61732,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61731\/revisions\/61732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}