Louisiana Governor and Republican presidential bet Bobby Jindal vowed to arrest members of the Westboro hate group if they try to hold a rally at the funeral of the victims of the shooting at a movie theatre in Lafayette.
"Let me be very clear. They come here to Louisiana and they try to disrupt this funeral, we're gonna lock them up. They shouldn't try that in Louisiana. We're gonna arrest them," he told CBS's "Face The Nation" on Sunday. "Let these families grieve."
The Westboro group has indicated that it will picket the funerals which started Monday, according to the Huffington Post. The group considers mass shootings in the US to be an act of God in retaliation for various sins. At the same time, Westboro members protest funerals to call attention to their own extremist views.
Mayci Breaux and Jillian Johnson were killed by gunman John Russell Houser inside the movie theatre last Thursday before he shot himself.
Jindal, who is a pro-gun advocate, has also issued an executive order for the police to take action against anyone who will disrupt the funerals.
"In times of grief and mourning, the rule of law is especially important to protect the rights of citizens when they are most vulnerable, and any effort to disrupt or interfere with a family's ability to grieve following the loss of a loved one is a reprehensible act," Jindal wrote in the executive order issued on Saturday, according to The Hill.
He added, "Any action by any individual or group to in any way disrupt, interfere, or cause additional suffering during this time of mourning is unconscionable and morally reprehensible."
Lafayette residents have also vowed to form a human wall to guard against any protests by the Westboro church.
The Southern Poverty Law Center earlier said Houser "expressed interest in white power groups, anti-Semitic ideas, the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church, as well as a number of conspiracy theories often espoused by the anti-government right."
He also praised David Duke, "one of the most recognizable figures of the American radical right, a neo-Nazi, longtime Ku Klux Klan leader and now an international spokesman for Holocaust denial.
