Associated Press
July 1, 2020
GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. — A
Florida sheriff says he will deputize every gun owner in his county to
put down any violent protests his deputies can't handle alone.
Clay
County Sheriff Darryl Daniels gave no indication in a three-minute
video released Wednesday that any demonstrations are planned in his
suburban Jacksonville county. Daniels also said he would protect any
peaceful protests, but added that if anyone starts "tearing up Clay
County, that is not going to be acceptable."
"If
we can't handle you, I'll exercise the power and authority as the
sheriff and I'll make special deputies of every lawful gun owner in the
county and I'll deputize them to this one purpose: to stand in the gap
between lawlessness and civility," said Daniels, sporting a white cowboy
hat as he stood in front of 18 deputies.
Daniels,
who is African American, said in the video that his department has a
"great relationship" with its residents, but "if you come to Clay County
and think for one second we'll bend our backs for you, you're sadly
mistaken."
"The second you step out from up
under the protection of the Constitution, we'll be waiting on you and
give you everything you want: all the publicity, all the pain, all the
glamour and glory for all that five minutes will give you."
Daniels,
a Republican finishing his first term, is being challenged by six
opponents in the upcoming election. He is under investigation by the
Florida Department of Law Enforcement after his former employer, the
Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, announced last year that he'd had an
affair with a co-worker when he was running its jails. Daniels, who is
married, was accused of later having the woman falsely arrested. He
issued an apology, but said he wouldn't discuss specifics.
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