FLORIDA Gov. Ron DeSantis has moved to expand the state’s Stand Your Ground Law and give armed citizens the green light to shoot and potentially kill anyone they suspect of looting businesses.

The proposed legislation comes in response to a nationwide spread of protests and looting this summer following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died while being detained by a white Minneapolis cop.

According to the Miami Herald, the legislation is an attempt to prevent “violent and disorderly assemblies” by permitting violence against anyone involved in the “interruption or impairment” of a business.

As described in the legislations draft, violence is permitted against anyone committing an act of burglary within 500 feet of “violent or disorderly assembly.”

The law also includes acts that would make protesting, which disrupts the public by blocking traffic, a third degree felony.

The legislation would also grant immunity to drivers who unintentionally kill or injure protesters who were blocking traffic.

Additionally the law would allow state to withhold funds from local governments that cut police budgets.

“It allows for vigilantes to justify their actions,” Denise Georges, a former Miami-Dade County prosecutor, who has worked with Stand Your Ground cases told the publication.

“It also allows for death to be the punishment for a property crime – and that is a cruel and unusual punishment.

“We cannot live in a lawless society where taking a life is done so casually and recklessly.”

DeSantis reportedly submitted copies of the legislation to the state’s Senate Committee on Criminal Justice and the House Judiciary Committee, according to emails obtained by the Herald.

“It’s clear that the Trump beauty pageant is still going on with governors and senators, who all want to be the next Trump,” Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber told the outlet.

“And the governor is clearly a very good contestant.”

DeSantis is has been an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump since the president took office.

The Florida governor has even followed in President Trump’s footsteps about face mask requirements and social distancing rules in his state amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Since the start of the pandemic, the Sunshine state is close to cracking the 1million mark in Covid-19 cases, with 852,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus to date and 17,217 deaths.

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