Florida’s Governor is reheating his attacks on a proposed federal ban on gas stoves, even as momentum toward that has cooled off.
“When we say don’t tread on Florida or let us alone, we mean that, including on your gas stoves! You’re not taking our gas stoves away from us. That’s your choice! I know many people who cook a lot who do not want to part with their gas stoves,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis Thursday at a press conference in the Villages.
“We’re going to stand up for that. You know, they float this to try to do, and they want to do it, let’s just be honest. And then you start to see the narrative kick into gear. CNN segments saying it’s causing asthma in kids, and all this other stuff. And then they start propagating the narrative, but then they got blowback, so they’ve kind of had to retreat from that,” DeSantis added.
“And now the narrative machine is like ‘Oh, why are these conservatives talking about gas stoves! They’re trying to stoke issues.’ No. You were trying to do it and we’re fighting back. The bottom line is anything they can get away with, they’re going to get away with. And this is just a perfect example of that.”
Despite DeSantis’ framing, the federal government has pushed back hard on reports that any ban is forthcoming.
The controversy was stirred up following comments from Richard Trumka Jr., a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commissioner, who said, regarding safety concerns about gas stoves, “Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has since said Trumka’s comments were his own and did not signal a change in U.S. policy. And even Trumka stated that he was only referring to potential new sales, and was not suggesting outlawing existing gas stoves.
DeSantis’ stirring defense of the newly controversial kitchen appliances comes one day after a spokesperson declared a “win” on the issue, in the wake of the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission’s clarification.
Gov. DeSantis had turned up the heat on the matter during an in-state press conference after initial reports on the issue broke, saying that gas stoves were essential in the wake of hurricanes like those Florida experienced last fall.
“The (Joe) Biden administration wants to nix gas stoves, are you kidding me? Like we need, I want gas stoves. I mean, imagine how many people, had the hurricane come through, didn’t have power right away, but were able to turn on. You cannot go down this road, but that’s exactly what they want to do,” DeSantis lamented.
Ahead of the reversal, others in the DeSantis orbit offered similarly grim warnings, including former spokesperson Christina Pushaw, who framed a potential gas stove ban as embodying the collectivist spirit of the USSR.
“Biden will ban gas stoves for normal people. Not for elites. This is Soviet America: Rules for thee, not for me,” Pushaw tweeted Tuesday morning.
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