Gov. DeSantis says ‘Johnny Law’ awaits Helene looters

Florida’s Governor is issuing his latest tough talk to people who might loot or exploit residents who were already victimized by Hurricane Helene’s storm surge.

“We actually have even stronger, enhanced penalties when people try to do this stuff on the heels of a major storm like this,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a Madeira Beach media availability.

“So just understand this is a law-and-order state. You don’t want to try anything like this because you’ll end up in the clutches of Johnny Law.”

“Johnny Law” is a milder threat than DeSantis made in the wake of previous storms, such as 2023’s Hurricane Idalia and 2022’s Hurricane Ian.

“This part of Florida, you’ve got a lot of advocates and some proponents of the Second Amendment. And I’ve seen signs in different people’s yards in the past after these disasters, and I would say it’s probably here, ‘You loot, we shoot.’ You never know what’s behind that door,” DeSantis said in Perry in 2023.

Speaking near Fort Myers in the leveled community of Matlacha in 2022, he told a similar story.

“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.”