In the midst of protests, riots and looters, one Governor is taking actions to protect the victims, rather than excuse the perpetrators. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has drafted new “anti-mob” legislation to improve upon the state’s Stand Your Ground law. The Miami Herald reported Tuesday that the legislation is the Governor’s attempt at preventing “violent and disorderly assemblies.”
An attorney for the DeSantis administration circulated a draft version of the bill. The Miami Herald reports the law will permit violence against those who are involved in the “interruption or impairment” of a business, allegedly described in a draft as being defined as burglary within 500 feet of ‘violent or disorderly assembly.” Fox News reports the draft legislation also “includes measures that would make protesting which disrupts the public by blocking traffic, a third-degree felony.”
The law would also “reportedly grant immunity to drivers who unintentionally kill or injure protesters who were blocking traffic” as well as “allow the state to withhold funds from local governments that cut police budgets” reports Fox News.
As of Tuesday, the proposal is simply a draft. “No bills have been filed in either the House or Senate, and no legislators have publicly said they will sponsor the proposal ahead of the 2021 legislative session which convenes March 2. Committees begin meeting in January” reports the Miami Herald.
Former Miami-Dade County prosecutor Denise Georges who was also against the Stand Your Ground law said the measure “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.”
