Free Republic

The new law, which went into effect immediately, also allows local governments to be sued if they fail to stop a riot. "As we saw last summer, some of the local governments are actually telling, not necessarily in Florida but throughout the country, basically telling these folks to stand down, telling police to stand down while cities burnt, while businesses were burnt, while people were being harmed," DeSantis said. "That’s a dereliction of duty. "What our bill says, and what I’ll sign into law today, is that if you're derelict in your duty as a local government, if you tell...

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Florida’s controversial “anti-riot” bill into law on Monday, a measure that vastly increases law enforcement’s powers to crack down on civil unrest. The bill, which passed mostly along partisan lines, has been criticized by Democrats and civil rights groups as unconstitutional for infringing on the First Amendment’s right to protest. “If you look at the breadth of this particular piece of legislation, it is the strongest anti-rioting, pro-law enforcement piece of legislation in the country,” DeSantis said at a press conference in Winter Haven surrounded by Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, uniformed deputies and other law...