Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has a stark warning for persons who try to steal during the recovery from Hurricane Idalia: “You loot, we shoot.”

Mr. DeSantis, a Republican candidate for president, said potential thieves should be aware that parts of Florida are passionate about the Second Amendment and have a right to defend their homes and other property.

“You never know what’s behind that door if you go break into somebody’s house,” he said Wednesday at a press conference in Perry.

“This part of Florida, you got a lot of advocates and proponents of the Second Amendment,” the governor said. “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.’”

Hurricane Idalia hit Florida at midweek as a Category 3 storm. Two car crash deaths were attributed to the storm.

While the devastation wasn’t as bad as feared, many Floridians lost power and some towns have a long road back from flooding and other damage. Idalia weakened to a tropical storm and is bringing heavy rains to Georgia and the Carolinas.

Mr. DeSantis paused his presidential campaign days ago to respond to a racially motivated shooting in Jacksonville that left three Black people dead and to prepare for the storm. 

The recovery from Idalia will be viewed as a key test for Mr. DeSantis, who is trying to close a wide polling gap with the GOP presidential front-runner, former President Donald Trump.

• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.