Making God and the Constitution central to his message, Florida’s Clay County sheriff gives an epic warning to any outside group that seeks to break the law and create disorder in his county, telling them he’ll give them all the pain and publicity they want.
Watch:
Sheriff Darryl Daniels begins by telling people not to be duped into believing that law enforcement is bad and that they are the enemy of the citizens they are sworn to protect. Rather, he says they swear an oath to protect and it ends with “so help me God.”
Daniels talks about how God is not in the media’s message nor in the message of groups like Black Lives Matter who are “disrupting what we know to be our quality of life” and “making themselves a spectacle.”
He then issues this stark warning to any group that seeks to disrupt the quality of life in Clay County, saying:
“If you come to Clay County and you think for one second, we’ll bend our backs for you, you’re sadly mistaken. I know what happens when lawlessness prevails. And in this day and time, God is raising up men and women just like the folks standing behind me who will have strong backbones and will stand in the gap between lawlessness and the citizenry we’re sworn to protect.”
Daniels makes clear they will handled these violent groups one way or the other:
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 this county and I’ll deputize them for this one purpose to stand in the gap between lawlessness and civility.
Daniel’s concludes his short speech by saying “You’ve been warned.”
Below is the full transcript via First Coast News:
Don’t fall victim or play victim to this conversation that law enforcement is bad, that law enforcement is the enemy of the citizens that we’re sworn to protect and serve. We swore an oath, and in that oath, we swore to support, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and the government, and that we’re duly qualified under the state’s constitution to hold office. That means for me as a sheriff and these men and women as deputy sheriffs. And we end that with, ‘So help me God,’ but God is absent from the media’s message or Black Lives Matter or any other group that’s making themselves a spectacle disrupting what we know to be our quality of life in this country.In Clay County we have a great quality of life. We have a great relationship with our community. But across this nation, not so much.
I wanted to take a stand with these men and women who feel the same way as I do.
Lawlessness, that’s unacceptable in this country. Lawlessness, that’s unacceptable in Clay County.
And if you come to Clay County and you think for one second, we’ll bend our backs for you, you’re sadly mistaken.
I know what happens when lawlessness prevails.
And in this day and time, God is raising up men and women just like the folks standing behind me who will have strong backbones and will stand in the gap between lawlessness and the citizenry we’re sworn to protect.
So, you can threaten all you want. You can say let’s go to Clay County or let’s go to some other peaceful county where problems don’t exist where relationships are great and not strained and where the people support their sheriff and support the men and women in uniform. And you’ll have something waiting you don’t want.
Yes, we’ll protect your constitutional rights as long as you remain under the umbrellas of peaceful protest or peaceful march.
But the second you step out from up under protection of the Constitution, we’ll be waiting on you and we’ll give you everything you want.
All the publicity all the pain all the glamour and glory for all that five minutes will give you.
Is it a threat? Absolutely not.
But someone has to step up in front of the camera and say enough is enough. Tearing up Clay County, that’s 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 this county and I’ll deputize them for this one purpose to stand in the gap between lawlessness and civility.
That’s what we’re sworn to do. That’s what we’re going to do. You’ve been warned.
Standing up for law and order has never sounded so good. Epic!