Selling your property can get you arrested

Not many Floridians know this, but when the Governor declared a state of emergency on September 4th in advance of Hurricane Irma's arrival, it immediately became a crime to sell your own property unless you have a business license. The law is 501.160, which reads (in part):

(9) Upon a declaration of a state of emergency by the Governor, in order to protect the health, safety, and welfare of residents, any person who offers goods and services for sale to the public during the duration of the emergency and who does not possess a business tax receipt under s.205.032 or s. 205.042 commits a misdemeanor of the second degree

If you are selling that property at a price that "grossly exceeds the average price at which the same or similar commodity was readily obtainable in the trade area during the 30 days immediately prior" to the emergency, you are guilty of price gouging. Even if you were offering the commodity for that price for the last two years, if your price is higher than your competitor, you have broken the law.

So instead, people are buying and hoarding the goods. This is an important lesson. In a real emergency, the next law to be passed will be one that allows the confiscation of hoarded goods. THAT is the most impactful part of the declaration in the Virgin Islands, IMO. People were up in arms about "gun confiscation" while missing that the declaration allows the government to take whatever they want.

The Adjutant General is authorized and directed to seize arms, ammunition, explosives, incendiary material and any other property that may be required by the military forces for the performance of this emergency mission (emphasis added)

Keep your prepping a secret, lest your neighbors vote to appropriate them for public (their) use.