This week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the drafting of a new piece of legislation that would expand the state’s Stand Your Ground law. He is calling the legislation an “anti-mob” bill and it seems specifically targeted at the Black lives Matter movement and the ongoing protests against police brutality that have swept across the United States in recent months.
The new legislation, if it becomes law, would allow armed citizens in the state of Florida to shoot, and potentially kill anyone that they suspect of looting a home or business.
According to the Miami Herald, the legislation is an attempt to prevent “violent and disorderly assemblies” by allowing civilians to use violence against anyone involved in the “interruption or impairment” of a business. The law specified that any burglary within 500 feet of “violent or disorderly assembly,” could be legally answered with lethal force.
The proposed legislation has been criticized by legal experts in the state, who fear that it could give vigilantes a license to kill anyone who they deem to be a rioter, and could further increase the change of civil unrest.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, has drafted “anti-mob” legislation that would expand Florida’s Stand Your Ground law that critics say would allow armed citizens to shoot suspected looters or anyone engaged in “criminal mischief” that disrupts a businesshttps://t.co/tVEgmnWmIr — Hamza Shaban (@hshaban) November 10, 2020 Former Miami-Dade County prosecutor, Denise Georges, who has experience with Stand Your Ground cases in the state, told the Herald that, “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.”
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