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Speaker 1: Now here's a highlight from Coast to Coast AM on

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Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and welcome back to Coast to Coast. George Norri

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Speaker 1: with you. Ron Barber with us of course for the

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Speaker 1: entire couple hours tonight, and his website is line of

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Speaker 1: Duty dot com. We're joined with Randy Sutton, a thirty

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Speaker 1: four year law enforcement veteran twenty four years on the

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Speaker 1: Las Vegas Metro Department. One of the department's most highly

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Speaker 1: decorated officers, is the author of several excellent books on policing.

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Speaker 1: He's been on the television show Cops many times. He's

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Speaker 1: even acted in several movies, playing usually a police officer.

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Speaker 1: Randy's the founder of the Wounded Blue dot Org, which

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Speaker 1: tries to help officers injured and hurt on the job

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Speaker 1: with resources and support. Randy, welcome to the program and

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Speaker 1: Ron is with us. Still. It is a pleasure be here.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for having me. Look forward, Randy, you better live

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Speaker 1: up to the building. I just called you a national

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Speaker 1: Sure next time I'm in Las Vegas, Randy, I'll look

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Speaker 1: you up by the way, and I don't that there

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Speaker 1: may be a cocktail in that for you, but we

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Speaker 1: won't be driving, that's for sure. Ron, You've heard the

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Speaker 1: program up to this point, and the primary question I've

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Speaker 1: got for you is how many, just off the top

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Speaker 1: of your head, how many thousands of traffic stops were

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Speaker 1: you involved in, either as primary or back up in

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Speaker 1: your career. Just a guess. In my thirty four year

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Speaker 1: police career, I'm going to have to guess somewhere around

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Speaker 1: m fifteen thousand, fifteen thousand. Okay, So let me ask

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Speaker 1: you this, of all the incidents you have dealt with

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Speaker 1: where a subject had a gun, had used it to

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Speaker 1: commit a crime, had used it in the process of

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Speaker 1: committing a crime, had a fire arm in his or

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Speaker 1: her possession, all of the above, in all of those

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Speaker 1: incidents cumulatively, what percentage of them had the gun legally

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Speaker 1: in their possession? Very few, very few, very few crimes

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Speaker 1: committed with firearms are are committed by people who legally

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Speaker 1: possess firearms. What do they get these guns are indy Well,

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Speaker 1: generally speaking, they steal them, or they purchase them on

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Speaker 1: the street after they are stolen, where they purchase them

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Speaker 1: um illegally from from the street dealers. They're not you know,

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Speaker 1: criminals don't care about the laws. They don't care about,

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Speaker 1: you know, purchasing a firearm and going down to the

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Speaker 1: going down to the gun store and given their identification,

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Speaker 1: going through the background check. It's not something that is

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Speaker 1: in their in their in their book. No, it's it's uh.

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Speaker 1: They get a firearm from the various sources. And and

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Speaker 1: you know that's one of the misnomers about about people,

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Speaker 1: you know, wanting to legislate um crimes away. The crimes

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Speaker 1: are already on the books. Those who commit those crimes,

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Speaker 1: they don't care about them. They don't care about the laws.

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Speaker 1: And it's the same thing with firearms laws. I'm a

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Speaker 1: concealed weapons permit holder. I've got the right to carry

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Speaker 1: in states that honor that. If if law bidying people,

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Speaker 1: and I consider myself one of them, if they took

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Speaker 1: our guns away, would the criminal, the perpetrator, they would

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Speaker 1: be robber still be able to get a gun? Oh? Absolutely?

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Speaker 1: You know this is this is one of those things

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Speaker 1: that kind of when I when I watch what's going

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Speaker 1: on around America today and I see the calls for

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Speaker 1: more and more gun laws, it's almost comical because it's absurd.

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Speaker 1: Look at the look at the states that have the

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Speaker 1: most stringent gun laws. States like um Illinois, Chicago where

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Speaker 1: where the where the murder rate is absolutely, you know,

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Speaker 1: beyond comprehension, and they have some of the strongest gun

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Speaker 1: laws that are on the books in America. Well, those laws,

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Speaker 1: while they are there on paper, don't mean a thing

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Speaker 1: because the the reality is that they are not enforced.

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Speaker 1: When when you have when you have laws that will

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Speaker 1: put real bad guys away for long periods of time,

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Speaker 1: which would have a dramatic effect on the violent crime rate,

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Speaker 1: but they are not utilized, it becomes a joke. And

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Speaker 1: that's what's happening all across America. And yet you have

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Speaker 1: politicians that want to create more laws when the laws

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Speaker 1: that are in effect would be adequate if they were

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Speaker 1: properly utilized. Ron. In the old days, when the cops

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Speaker 1: used to walk a beat, and we're talking the nineteen

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Speaker 1: twenties and stuff, there was a respect for police officers

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Speaker 1: from citizens. Ron, do you still feel that today? Is

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Speaker 1: it there or is it gone? I feel that in

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Speaker 1: many cases it's gone. I feel that that is one

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Speaker 1: of the reasons why so many cops are bailing out

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Speaker 1: of a profession or choosing not to get into the

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Speaker 1: profession in the very first place. When you've got a

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Speaker 1: situation like Mayor Deblasio of New York inculcating his own

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Speaker 1: son into a negative awareness of cops, these sorts of

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Speaker 1: things resonate when adults don't show respect for law enforcement.

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Speaker 1: What do you think their progeny is going to do? Exactly?

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Speaker 1: And Randy, do you feel as if the public does

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Speaker 1: not support police by and large these days? You know,

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Speaker 1: that's that's a that's a great question. And I actually

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Speaker 1: believe that most of the American people do support American

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Speaker 1: law enforcement, but they are in fact what we what

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Speaker 1: we've come to be known as the silent majority. Um

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Speaker 1: There have been a number of studies done them. Probably

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Speaker 1: one of the most telling came out about two years ago,

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Speaker 1: and it had um UH had the respect level of

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Speaker 1: of people in America, both in communities of color and

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Speaker 1: communities that were predominantly white. And it was very telling

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Speaker 1: because the white communities had about a seventy two respect

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Speaker 1: level for police, respect and trust, and communities of color

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Speaker 1: were only just marginally blow that about sixty seven percent.

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Speaker 1: So you can see that the reality is far different

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Speaker 1: than what is portrayed in the media and in um.

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Speaker 1: You know, those who have political motivations, they they espouse that,

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Speaker 1: you know, the people don't trust the police in black communities,

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Speaker 1: and you know throughout America truly believe that the opposite

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Speaker 1: is true. But you have a media that reports only

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Speaker 1: the negative about the police and uh, and they're following

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Speaker 1: a political agenda, and that political agenda, unfortunately, is being

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Speaker 1: perpetuated by even politicians that are running for the president

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Speaker 1: of the United States. I had an I had an

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Speaker 1: event to go to last weekend at Scottsdale, Arizona, and

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Speaker 1: I flew out a Burbank airport and they've got police

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Speaker 1: officers stationed there, obviously, and I went up to the

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Speaker 1: one that was standing by the side of this door

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Speaker 1: that I went into and just said, I just want

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Speaker 1: to thank you for what you do. You would have

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Speaker 1: thought that I gave him a million bucks. It was

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Speaker 1: great just to see him smile and say thank you. Absolutely.

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Speaker 1: Could I ask Randy a question of regard to a

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Speaker 1: few minutes ago Randy. Last week on our Facebook page,

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Speaker 1: we put on a video of a subject who a

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Speaker 1: violent felon who had a gun. He was threatening the cops.

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Speaker 1: He was threatening to jump over a bridge he finally

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Speaker 1: turned and ran with the gun. The officers ended up

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Speaker 1: shooting him in the back and killing him. And the

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Speaker 1: video would make one perhaps I have some questions, but

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Speaker 1: when you read it in full context, you realized that

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Speaker 1: the officers were very concerned because this man was running

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Speaker 1: towards a group of children. So what I have been

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Speaker 1: saying for freaking ever, is you cannot rely on headlines,

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Speaker 1: You cannot rely on fifteen seconds of video. And yes,

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Speaker 1: there are a number of circumstances where an officer can

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Speaker 1: absolutely justifiably shoot a subject in the back, right or long,

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Speaker 1: absolutely correct. You know, this is one of those This

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Speaker 1: is one of those topics that is, you know, it's

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Speaker 1: very controversial, but you know this is where reality and

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Speaker 1: and public perception differed. Reality is that law enforcement officers

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Speaker 1: have a duty, and that duty is to protect the

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Speaker 1: people that they serve. When you have an individual who

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Speaker 1: is armed, someone who has shown a propensity for violence,

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Speaker 1: and that individual is running towards a group of people

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Speaker 1: that he's got a gun in his hand, for Christ,

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Speaker 1: got a gun in his hand, that officer has not

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Speaker 1: only not only the right, but the duties will protect

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Speaker 1: those people. And and and let me let me give

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Speaker 1: you a personal perspective, okay, because this is this is

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Speaker 1: something that occurred to me personally. One of the fatal

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Speaker 1: shooting is that I was involved in during my career

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Speaker 1: was an active shooter, an individual who was shooting at

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Speaker 1: kids at a high school dance. And when I got

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Speaker 1: to the scene, he was he was walking towards a

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Speaker 1: group of people. He had his back to me, and

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Speaker 1: I had to make that decision, the decision that you know,

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Speaker 1: um you know here. Well, let me point something else

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Speaker 1: out that I think probably most people do not know,

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Speaker 1: and that is that less than five percent of law

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Speaker 1: enforcement monsers in the United States will ever use their

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Speaker 1: weapon in the line of duty. You know, there's a

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Speaker 1: there's a misconception out there the cops are out there

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Speaker 1: getting the gun fights all the time. It is truly

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Speaker 1: a m a situation that takes place very very few

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Speaker 1: times throughout a law enforcement officer's career, if ever. Randy,

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Speaker 1: we're coming up on the second year anniversary of the

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Speaker 1: tragedy in your city in Las Vegas October first, twenty seventeen,

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Speaker 1: when Stephen Paddock went ballistic from the Mandalay Bay and

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Speaker 1: shot shot of Were you on duty that day or

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Speaker 1: what can you recall what happened? Well, I recall very well.

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Speaker 1: I was. I was retired by the time that took place,

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Speaker 1: but as a journalist and an individual who makes law

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Speaker 1: enforcement commentary, I was I was called out within minutes

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Speaker 1: of that time to report on that that that shooting,

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Speaker 1: and it was a It was an incredible It was

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Speaker 1: an incredible experience because the the initial reports were that

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Speaker 1: there was a coordinated terrorist attack taking place and that

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Speaker 1: there was a number of casinos who were being attacked,

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Speaker 1: and that was that was the original report. Because, um,

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Speaker 1: what was taking place at the time led to mass confusion.

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Speaker 1: You know, there was such a um there was such

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Speaker 1: a number of gunshots going off. The echoing from those

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Speaker 1: gunshots were reverberating throughout that area of casinos, and while

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Speaker 1: people were being struck and they were running in different directions,

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Speaker 1: some of those people were running different casinos. So the

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Speaker 1: initial reports were that there were active shooters taking place

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Speaker 1: and it was an active terrorist attack. So that was

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Speaker 1: the initial report, and you can imagine the panic that

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Speaker 1: was taking place and as I literally was in a

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Speaker 1: television station reporting on that for hours as those reports

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Speaker 1: were coming in. So it was mass, mass confusion. I

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Speaker 1: was on the air that night and we were hearing

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Speaker 1: exactly what you just said, Randy, that there could have

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Speaker 1: been multiple shooters because of the way people were running

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Speaker 1: around into different spots and areas. It was horrible. It

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Speaker 1: was horrible and and and it was it was almost inconceivable.

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Speaker 1: And yet this is actually what UM. But the Las

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Speaker 1: Vegas Police Department has been training for quite literally for

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Speaker 1: years because the UM the Las Vegas area was actually

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Speaker 1: you know, visited by the terrorists who who struck the

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Speaker 1: World Trade Center, so we we knew for years that

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Speaker 1: this was an in targeted area by Muslim terrorists. So

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Speaker 1: when this took place, UM, it was it was initially

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Speaker 1: UM the thought that this was a coordinated attack taking

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Speaker 1: place in in Las Vegas. So there was there was

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Speaker 1: mass confusion, as takes place in any active shooter. But

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Speaker 1: this in this situation was an anomaly. UM. You know that,

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Speaker 1: I don't. I am unaware that there has been any

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Speaker 1: situation UM that that was similar to the attack from

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Speaker 1: the Mandalay Bay. They still haven't come up with a

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Speaker 1: motive of why Paddock did what he did. It's bizarre, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: well it's completely bizarre. And and and here's my theory

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Speaker 1: on that. And I believe me, I've given a lot

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Speaker 1: of thoughts to this, and I have I've done, you know,

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Speaker 1: my own you know, my own research into it. And

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Speaker 1: and Stephen Paddock, Um, Stephen Paddock was an anomaly. He

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Speaker 1: didn't fit any pattern whatsoever. He didn't have a radical

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Speaker 1: uh passed, he didn't have a criminal past. He was uh,

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Speaker 1: he was economically um, you know, he was okay when

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Speaker 1: it kind of came down to money. Um, he didn't.

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Speaker 1: He didn't fit any of the patterns at all. And

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Speaker 1: yet he was so evil. He had such a propensity

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Speaker 1: for violence that he could, um, he could plan and

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Speaker 1: plot this incredible attack, um, so effectively. And I and

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Speaker 1: and and here's my theory, and that is that we'll

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Speaker 1: never know what motivated him. And that is his last

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Speaker 1: screw you to us. Yeah, that's true. Listen to more

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Speaker 1: Coast to Coast AM every weeknight at one am Eastern

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