FLORIDA Governor Ron DeSantis has compared stores to Fort Knox while calling to “free the toothpaste” from locked shelves.
DeSantis made the remarks as he signed a bill that raises the penalty for criminals who commit retail theft in the state.
DeSantis hopes the new law will help combat rampant theft at big retailers like Target and Walmart.
The governor once again made his feelings about anti-theft measures at stores known as he discussed the new crackdown.
“Going into a drugstore to buy toothpaste shouldn’t be like Fort Knox. You shouldn’t need a clerk to unlock a case just to purchase basic items,” he wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
He paired the tweet with a photo of a toothpaste tube behind bars with the text Free The Toothpaste.
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DeSantis acknowledged retailers’ $112 billion loss in 2022 as he argued for stronger penalties for those who steal from stores.
Target and Walmart have locked items behind glass as an anti-theft method but are continuously slammed by customers for the inconvenience.
‘BEHIND LOCK AND KEY’
This was not the first time the Florida governor has mentioned everyday items being locked up.
In February, he brought toothpaste into conversation again, commenting on cities that have “enacted policies that legalize shoplifting.”
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“One of the things that I’ve noticed is that if you go into, like, a pharmacy and the toothpaste is behind lock and key. Like, it’s almost like Fort Knox, some of these places, just for normal items,” DeSantis said, according to Florida Politics.
“You’ve got some problems and what you’ve seen in different cities, whether it’s San Francisco, LA, New York.
“All these places, they’ve effectively enacted policies that legalize shoplifting. So people just go in, they take what they want, they leave.”
He also argued that theft was a problem due to the collapse of the “rule of law.”
‘FORT KNOX’
DeSantis spoke about his new bill at a news conference inside a Walgreens in Stuart on Wednesday.
The governor argued that locked shelves are “demoralizing” and something that isn’t “good for quality of life.”
“It also just has a demoralizing effect on people when you go in and you want to buy toothpaste and it’s like Fort Knox because it’s all under lock and key for basic items,” he said.
“You gotta get a clerk to come and open it and all this stuff just to do basic shopping. That is not something that is good for quality of life.”
He also brought it back again to his point about “rule of law.”
“And then of course, if you can have people come in and just steal retail and walk out, that creates a contempt for the rule of law that has a spillover effect in areas far beyond retail theft,” he said.
Ron DeSantis
Ron DeSantis is the 46th governor of Florida.
He is a member of the Republican Party and was the former U.S. Representative for Florida’s Sixth District from 2013 to 2018.
He grew up in Florida and went away to Yale University for his undergraduate degree. There, DeSantis studied history and graduated with honors. He was also captain of the varsity baseball team.
DeSantis then attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 2005.
While at Harvard, he was commissioned into the U.S. Navy as a JAG officer. After six years of active-duty service, DeSantis served as a federal prosecutor before being elected to Congress in 2012.
DeSantis was running for as a 2024 Republican presidential candidate but withdrew his candidacy in January 2024.
“It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” DeSantis said in a cheerful tone, according to AP.
The Florida Governor has since endorsed Trump and sources claim he wants to help raise money for the former president’s campaign.
His new bill makes retail theft a third-degree felony that is punishable by up to five years in prison if a criminal commits theft with five or more people.
If someone uses social media to plan the theft, that would be considered a second-degree felony, raising the jail time to 15 years.
A thief who uses a gun or commits a second offense could get a first-degree felony, which would be punishable by up to 30 years.
Florida could now charge a person with a felony for multiple retail thefts for up to 120 days, instead of just 30.
The new law also targets porch pirates.
If a thief steals something from someone’s porch worth less than $40, the crime is a first-degree misdemeanor.
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A second offense becomes a third-degree felony and so does theft of someone else’s property worth $40 or more.
DeSantis’ bill will go into effect on October 1.
https://www.the-sun.com/news/11057182/ron-desantis-slams-walmart-target-anti-theft-policy/