A conservative lawmaker from Florida is hoping to create new legal protections for angry motorists to run down rioters — a proposal he is now referring to as the “Thump Thump Bill.” Congressman Randy Fine, who backed a similar piece of legislation while in the Florida state legislature, says blocking roadways should no longer be considered a “reasonable” form of protest. 

Mr. Fine, who was elected to the House earlier this year in a special election, has made a name for himself as a tough-on-crime pugilist who is not afraid to make enemies even within his own party. He has described a fellow GOP lawmaker, Congressman Thomas Massie, as an “embarrassment.” Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene recently called Mr. Fine “disgraceful.”

Despite the high-profile spats, the Florida congressman is not putting his head in the sand. In an interview with Breitbart News Network on Wednesday, Mr. Fine said that blocking roadways, in some circumstances, is “a form of terrorism.”

“When a pregnant woman can’t get to the hospital to have a baby, when an ambulance can’t get through traffic to get to the hospital, that’s a form of terrorism,” Mr. Fine said. “It disrupts our lives. And it’s not a reasonable form of protest.”

When asked about the safety of the protesters themselves, Mr. Fine says it does not even cross his mind.

“I don’t care about that because they’ve chosen to do that,” Mr. Fine told the outlet. “They’re not confused about what they’re doing. If you stand in the middle of a highway, you shouldn’t be surprised when you get run over.”

He introduced his bill — officially named the Reinstating Orderly Access for Drivers Act — earlier this month. The legislation would create an “affirmative defense” in any “criminal or civil action for damages for personal injury, wrongful death, or property damage carried out using a motor vehicle” if the person who suffered damages or injuries was “acting in furtherance of a riot.”

That defense would become available, the bill adds, based on “evidence that the participant has been convicted of violating section 2101, or by proof of the commission of such crime by a preponderance of the evidence.”

Mr. Fine’s proposal draws inspiration from a Florida law signed by Governor Ron DeSantis that allows motorists to hit protesters if the demonstrations get unruly and cars are surrounded. 

“If you’re driving on one of those streets and a mob comes and surrounds your vehicle and threatens you, you have a right to flee for your safety,” Mr. DeSantis told podcaster Dave Rubin earlier this summer. “If you drive off and you hit one of these people, that’s their fault for impinging on you.”

“You don’t have to sit there and just be a sitting duck and let the mob grab you out of your car and drag you through the streets,” he said. “You have the right to defend yourself in Florida.”

A bill passed by the Florida legislature and signed by Mr. DeSantis in 2021 created a kind of civil immunity for drivers accused of running down protesters in the streets. Although motorists could still be criminally charged based on circumstances, the driver of the vehicle cannot be sued by anyone who had been blocking roads while protesting. 

“I was proud to be part of the team that made it happen, where we said if you block the road, you can get run over. And guess what? The protesters don’t block the roads in Florida as a result,” Mr. Fine told Breitbart. “I think we need to make America Florida, and the ‘Thump Thump’ Act will say that if you block the roads, well, you may end up sounding like ‘thump thump.’”