Ron DeSantis has punished the Tampa Bay Rays for speaking out about gun violence by blocking $35m in state funding for a new training facility, a report says.
The Florida governor made the move after the team called for action in the wake of mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, a source told CNN.
Mr DeSantis used his powers to veto the money for a sports training and youth tournament in Pasco County, which officials hoped would have been used by the MLB team.
Following the Texas massacre in which a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school, the team donated $50,000 to the Everytown for Gun Safety groups.
And they tweeted a statement, that read, “This cannot be normal. We cannot become numb. We cannot look the other way. We all know, if nothing changes, nothing changes.”
And this led to the Republican politician acting, the source told the news network.
“I don’t support giving taxpayer dollars to professional sports stadiums,” Mr DeSantis said on Friday as he described his decision.
The governor was always skeptical of the proposal and was wary of upsetting residents of Port Charlotte, Florida, where the Rays currently have a training base, the source told CNN.
Mr DeSantis has opposed stricter gun control in the past and in 2018 was against gun control measures in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act.
It was signed into law by then-governor Rick Scott following the mass shooting in Parkland Florida.
Mr DeSantis is also no stranger in punishing a private company that supports a political position he is against.
In April he signed a bill to remove Disney’s special governing status in the state after the company criticised the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.
