DeSantis gives ‘license to kill” to all Floridians: “You have a right to defend yourself in Florida”
Florida – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is once again in the center of a hot national debate. This time, it’s because of things he said on a recent podcast about how drivers in Florida should and could react if they come across protesters blocking the road. DeSantis said on “The Rubin Report” on Wednesday night that Florida drivers have the right to drive away if they feel frightened by crowds of protesters, even if that means hitting someone in the process.
The governor, who has always been against disruptive protests, was clear that Floridians shouldn’t have to stay still when they were in what he called a dangerous scenario.
“If you are driving on one of those streets and a mob comes and surrounds your vehicle and threatens you, you have a right to flee for your safety, and so if you drive off and you hit one of these people, that’s their fault for impinging on you,” DeSantis said.
“You don’t have to sit there and just be a sitting duck and let the mob grab you out of your car and drag you through the streets, you have a right to defend yourself in Florida,” DeSantis added on the podcast Wednesday.
DeSantis’s statements came just before scheduled protests across the country this Saturday. The 50501 Movement is putting on the “No Kings” protests all throughout the country, including in Florida. They will happen on President Trump’s birthday and Flag Day. The 50501 Movement, which gets its name from the phrase “50 states, 50 protests, one movement,” says it is a group of regular Americans fighting against dictatorship and for democracy. The people in charge of the events have made it clear that they are meant to be peaceful and not aggressive.
However, the timing and content of the governor’s comments have alarmed protest leaders and civil rights activists, who are afraid that his words could be seen as pushing drivers to do dangerous things. In response to DeSantis’s statements, the organizers said again that they were committed to nonviolence and that blocking streets is a form of civil disobedience, not an invitation to violence.
DeSantis has taken a strong stand against protest tactics that entail blocking roads before. In the same podcast, he talked about how law enforcement in Florida has quickly broken up these kinds of gatherings in the past.
“You have no right to commandeer streets,” DeSantis said. “First of all, it’s just wrong; second of all, that has huge impacts on people’s quality of life.” He further described Florida’s approach as having “zero tolerance” for demonstrations that disrupt public traffic.
The situation is taking place at the same time as a bigger national discussion about how states can find a balance between public safety, the freedom to demonstrate, and the rights of regular people who just want to get from one place to another. This weekend, everyone will be watching Florida to see how these words play out in real life and whether the governor’s message changes how protestors and drivers treat each other when things get heated.
