A quick update on Florida. Okeechobee, they banned the Second Amendment, suspended the Second Amendment because of rain and wind, and I’m also going to touch on something else that has me actually fired up this morning, and that’s the looting that’s going on and why people need to wake up, stop depending on government, and realizing who is actually aiding and abetting the government and empowering these criminals. You’re going to want to see this one. I don’t want to put any sponsors on this, but I will drink a black-out coffee latte. I’m going to do a little rant here, guys.

I’m a little honoree. It was the longest travel day of my life. Woke up at 5am over there in San Diego, and I didn’t get home until 1.30am here in Tennessee, but I am home to my family. For everybody who has checked in, thank you very much. It means so much. We’re good here. We’re good. But the surrounding area is not, and that’s one of the things we’re going to get into here, and why your Second Amendment is paramount. Don’t care what the government thinks. Alright, so Okeechobee, Florida, the police chief thought he was the king and suspended the Second Amendment.

Here’s the notice again. If you didn’t see the video I dropped on it yesterday, check it out. It is linked here above. I’ll also try to put it in the description if I can remember past seven seconds today. There’s a follow-up. That order was rescinded, and I gave Florida Carry some prompts for the letter that they wrote threatening lawsuit and actually demanding a $30,000 settlement, or they would sue. And I’m also going to give a shout-out to Firehouse Policy Coalition and Gun Owners of America, Firehouse Policy Coalition. What did they do? They were in contact with the governor’s office, and the governor’s office, through Ron DeSantis, called the police chief and said, rescind that order.

He was ordered to rescind the order. Thank you to Firehouse Policy Coalition for doing what they did as well. And then here’s what they put out yesterday, they being the city of Okeechobee City Council. I’m going to read it to you. I don’t want to talk about what happened at this meeting as well. It says, Hurricane Helene landed ashore in Florida’s west coast as a category four hurricane late Thursday with winds of 140 miles per hour. Due to the onslaught of this hurricane on Thursday, September 26, 2024, at approximately 8 30 a.m., the city of Okeechobee, through its city council, enacted emergency ordinance number 1297, which followed Okeechobee County’s emergency declaration issued the day before.

The city’s emergency ordinance found that with the onslaught of Hurricane Helene, a situation existed that potentially constituted an immediate threat to public safety, potentially. So they’re going to violate your rights because of potential threats. Also the peace and order and the threat to public and private property or persons. In these situations, local governments must act expeditiously when issuing emergency orders to protect residents from the potential of disorderly conduct in the aftermath of a major hurricane. Those who have lived in the aftermath of major hurricanes are well aware of this potential. In addition, issuance of an emergency ordinance is a prerequisite to qualify for reimbursement for any damages sustained to the public infrastructure or facilities.

The emergency ordinance commenced immediately upon the declaration by the police chief and was therefore terminated by the police chief on or about 951 p.m. on the same day it was issued. The emergency ordinance was terminated for two primary reasons. One is that fortunately Hurricane Helene did not have a substantial impact on the city and its residents. Secondly, a provision prohibiting the sale of firearms and ammunition was inadvertently included in the emergency ordinance. Upon discovering this, the city and police chief acted expeditiously to terminate the emergency ordinance. Safeguarding the life and property of its residents is a paramount rule and responsibility of the city.

Nothing more, nothing less. At no time did the city or the police chief contemplate nor take any action to prohibit, confiscate, or otherwise regulate firearms or ammunition. Well, they’re freaking backtracking because the chief’s signature was on that declaration and he said straight out, you can’t do any of that stuff. Don’t carry it in public. Don’t sell it. Don’t offer for sale. Do nothing. Do not carry your gun, America, because you are not a cop or military and we will be able to defend you from the hurricane and the potential looters. Well, that proved to be false as well, right? No cop in the history of man has ever been able to protect somebody in the instance they need it if somebody’s kicking the door in and looting your home because of the hurricane damage.

In fact, that happened not too far from where I am now standing here in Johnson City, Tennessee. Yes, eight illegal immigrants, shocker, were breaking into people’s homes when they were the most vulnerable. Before I get further into that and why I’m saying that, this is what Luis Valdez, who is the state director in Florida for Gun Owners of America, he went to that city council meeting and this is what he said, putting them on notice. Thank you very much. My name is Luis Valdez. I am the Florida state director for Gun Owners of America. We are in a national gun rights organization.

I traveled here today specifically to bring up the issues that came up with your emergency declaration as a 15 year veteran law enforcement officer who served both in South Florida and in the state of Florida through an official capacity through state government. I want to advise you guys that there’s actually a number of issues with your emergency declaration. First and foremost, 870.043 is for riots and looting. It’s not for hurricanes. The other thing is the notice that you guys released today basically saying, hey, our bad, we didn’t mean to ban the sale of firearms. That’s not the only issue.

You guys also said the intentional possession in a public space of a firearm by any person except a duly authorized law enforcement officer or a person in military service acting in an official capacity is basically verboten. That is an extreme issue because right after that sentence in 870.044, which was not posted on your notice, it literally says, oh, by the way, this statute in no way to clarify means we ain’t going to take away anyone’s guns or are we going to strip them with the ability from legally carrying in public. Additionally, you have a state statute that during a declared state of emergency, like a hurricane, this was passed prior to permitless carry being enacted.

But during a declared state of emergency in a mandatory evacuation zone, people could carry without a permit for a 48 hour period. Furthermore, you have the issue of state preemption in this in the state, which doesn’t just say the city is liable individually. You members of the city government are liable and can be sued up to $5,000. Now, organizationally, we’re not threatening lawsuit right now, but I’m here as the state director as a veteran law enforcement officer. I am more than willing to put on a class for the city government to explain the do’s and don’ts of how declarations of emergencies work, how our state statute in relations to 790 its entire chapter works when it comes to the rights of the citizens here to keep and bear arms, both legally and law abiding.

I could tell you this, disarming the public during a state of emergency doesn’t work because criminals don’t care. As a 15 year cop, I know criminals are criminals because they break the law. If there was an issue of looting, if there was an issue of criminality, the people being able, the law abiding public, the residents of this community being able to be armed would be the most important thing to reduce crime. And this was brought up to our attention as a national organization because we have members nationwide. We have over five. We have over two million members and a number of them live right in this area and they contacted me.

I drove down here specifically to bring this issue up to your attention. Gun owners of America were the only no compromise gun rights organization. We fight in Tallahassee. We fight in Washington, D.C. and we’ll fight on the local level. And if you folks aren’t aware, we even just filed a lawsuit in the state of Florida in federal court against the state of Florida over the open carry ban because we don’t care if it’s a Republican or Democrat issue. We care about the Second Amendment and that includes everyone’s rights. So thank you for having me here. If you wish to talk to me after this meeting, by all means, I will gladly leave my contact information.

And again, G.O.A. is more than happy to put on a presentation to the city government and its law enforcement agency for the dues and dotes of how the Second Amendment needs to be properly protected. Because, hey, when we all rose that our right hand, take that oath, we swore to uphold and defend those rights of everyone. So thank you for having me here. Thank you for your comments and I hope you realize that we realize that we made a bad mistake and we will correct that in the future, I promise you. Thank you. It will not happen again.

Thank you. I promise you that. Well, I hold them from my standpoint. I can’t speak with all the counsels. If we have learned the valuable lesson here, we made a mistake about handling the whole ordinance and we will not do that again. So thank you very much. Solid work, brother. Love you. If I were you and I texted him the same thing so he knows I’m going to say this, I’d sue them anyway. Sue the shit out of Okachobi and force the termination of that King Wannabe. I still think he should lose his job, the chief of police.

Why am I fired up? Because I was in a different land. I was in California when looting was happening not too far from where my wife and children were. I wasn’t that worried because I know my wife knows how to handle herself and the tools that we have in this home, but I was worried for my community. The importance of you Americans understanding that the Second Amendment is there for you. It is a restriction on government. They cannot restrict it. They can’t restrict your rights. They don’t give you your rights. There are people who are still being looted in Tennessee and in North Carolina and my message is to stay armed, America.

I am seeing people come together to help people because the federal government isn’t and that should just drive it home. The federal government will never be able to help you when you need it. They’re not interested in stopping criminals. Guys, stay armed. Stay vigilant. I’ve been saying that for years. Be safe, stay vigilant, and carry a gun. It’s times like these that it should drive it home because when people are at their lowest, no food, no water, no phone, no cell service, no internet. In fact, the internet’s been going in and out here since the hurricane hit.

People will do whatever they have to do to feed themselves and if it means victimizing your you, your wife, or your kids to get it, they’re going to do it and it’s on us to be that sentinel for not only our family, but our community. Let me know what you think about that. I’m telling you, do not follow any of these frickin’ emergency declarations by people who don’t have the balls to show up and stay guard for you. They don’t have the stones to stand when they made this decision and say, yeah, I did that, that’s my bad, I’ll take the heat for that.

Because they’re inadvertently is what they said. It was inadvertently put in there that the police chief suspended the Second Amendment. Inadvertently, they didn’t know that. Bullshit is what I’m saying. Florida Carry, GOA, FPC, and whoever else wants to get involved, Saf, come on in. Sue this guy. Sue Okachobi. Make a statement. Make a point. Make an example. And let’s not let this ever happen again. When you are at your biggest risk, a hurricane’s bearing down on you and they want to say, because of public safety, we’re going to make sure you can’t protect yourself and we’re not going to be able to stop the looters either.

Piss off. Thank you. [tr:trw].

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