A Florida sheriff responded to the criticism and praise he has received for his viral comments about encouraging citizens to use the kill shot against home invaders.
During a press conference in April 2022, Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson said, “If someone is breaking into your house, you’re more than welcome to shoot. We prefer you to do that, actually.” The comments have gone viral again in juxtaposition to a story in New York where a woman was arrested for trying to remove squatters from her property.
Johnson told Fox News Digital in an interview that he stands by his comments and that it’s a “no-brainer.”
“I said [at the press conference] if you shoot accurately, and you kill the guy, you save taxpayers money. And I also said that if somebody gets killed during a home invasion, the odds of them re-offending are zero. And we like those odds, which we do,” he told Fox News Digital.
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Sheriff Johnson began his career with the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office in 1993.
“And in Santa Rosa County, we have a very high percentage of the population that have weapons, and I promote the use of them if you’re in your house. And somebody kicks your door in because they’re not coming in to give you a hug or to give you cookies, they’re coming in to commit felonies,” he continued.
The incident Johnson addressed at the 2022 press conference was not a squatter situation like the story in New York, but a home invasion.
Since he made the remarks, he claims there has not been a single home invasion.
“And it’s kind of ironic that, since that press conference, we haven’t had any home invasions, and it’s been over a year, so it’s kind of odd,” he said.
The sheriff touted Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, which say residents do not have a legal duty to retreat (i.e. making a reasonable effort to escape) from an attacker.
“You don’t have to retreat. You don’t have to give them warning. You don’t have to go barricade yourself in a room. You can shoot and kill them. And in the state of Florida, that’s perfectly legal,” he said. “And in these other states where they don’t have that, people are afraid to own guns, and they’re afraid to protect themselves. That’s why you have the crime rate in New York, in California.”
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The sheriff said their response time for 911 calls is generally around 3 to 5 minutes, but that a criminal can do a lot of damage to law-abiding citizens during that time period. Therefore, he encourages citizens “to arm themselves and protect themselves.”
He also offers weekly training classes to citizens on gun safety and to help them improve their shot.
Johnson explained that he’s not trying to mince words or distort the truth as he sees it, even though the response has led to death threats.
“After my press conference, I was getting death threats by the hundreds every day. And, I had another interviewer ask me, ‘Are you worried about that?’ And I said, ‘No, because all the death threats are coming from states where you can’t buy a gun anyway, so I really don’t care,” he told Fox News Digital.
Johnson received some backlash for his comments, including critics in an NPR article saying the sheriff was aggravating “racial tensions.”
The sheriff told Fox News Digital the offender in this particular case was White.
“When they say it’s racially motivated, the person who said that must be racially motivated because they’re assuming that only minorities break into homes, which is not the case. The individual I was speaking about was Caucasian,” the sheriff said.
He added that most elected officials “try to be politically correct” but that he ran for office as “a cop.”
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“And so they elected a cop here as sheriff, and I speak like a cop. I don’t care about political correctness. I’m going to tell it like it is. If you don’t like it. I’m sorry, but it’s the way it is,” Johnson said. “I say what people want to hear. They want to hear that their rights are going to be protected and that they’ll be protected in their own home.”
Johnson said he is able to speak freely because of Gov. Ron DeSantis’, R-Fla., support for law enforcement and the Second Amendment.
Sheriff Bob Johnson and Gov. Ron DeSantis. (Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office)
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“We have a very pro-law enforcement governor – DeSantis. He loves the citizens of Florida, and the criminals, they get a tough time in the state, and it’s because of him and his leadership,” he said.
“As an elected official, like I said, my number one fundamental responsibility is the protection of the citizens of Santa Rosa County. And I think letting them protect themselves, especially in their homes, is a smart thing to do,” Johnson continued. “I think we have a great bunch of citizens out there that love guns. And, hey, I’m proud of them.”