Florida's Governor is copping heat as his state gets lashed by Hurricane Idalia.
The Category 3 hurricane hit Florida on August 30 and became the strongest storm to make landfall in the Big Bend region in more than 125 years.
Tens of thousands of people in the state have been left without power after electricity was knocked out early into the storm.
In addition to that, the National Hurricane Centre warned the amount of water flooding on to land could be up to 15 feet (4.6 metres) along parts of Florida's west coast, while the Tampa Bay area further south could see up to seven feet (2.1 metres) of storm surge.
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There could be evacuation warnings if the situation becomes worse and Governor Ron DeSantis has a message to anyone thinking this would be a good time to do some looting.
At a press conference, the state leader said: "I'd also just remind potential looters, you never know what you're walking into. People have a right to defend their property.
"This part of Florida, you 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, if you go break into somebody's house and you're trying to loot, these are people that are going to be able to defend themselves and their families, so I would not do it.
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"We are going to hold you accountable from a law-enforcement perspective at a minimum and it could even be worse than that depending on what's behind that door.
"So let's all band together and lift people up and not try to take advantage of a difficult situation."
Well, it's unsurprising that people were horrified at the comments.
Bloomberg columnist Matthew Yglesias said on Twitter/X: "Such a weird thing to say when nobody is looting.
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"Post-hurricane looting is very rare, but it's like he's hoping for bad stuff to happen so he can be a badass."
Author Shannon Watts is worried about Floridans' safety, adding: "During a natural disaster, Florida's governor says he supports civilians killing each other over theft in a state that doesn't require background checks or training to carry hidden, loaded handguns in public."
Another person wrote: "This is not a law & order message. It’s vigilante s**t. How do you know who is salvaging theirs, or their loved one’s belongings, and who’s 'looting?'
"This is why people get f**king shot, because this f**ker and his cavalier attitude towards guns."
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However, he also received praise from some people on social media who thought it was a no-nonsense approach to deter people from looting.
