WEBVTT - The Las Vegas Massacre (Bonus Episode) 0:00:08.480 --> 0:00:10.360 You place your left hand on the bay and Bible 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:13.720 and raise your right hand and repeat after me. I 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:20.720 solemnly swear jury trying it attended this weekend in Ferguson 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:24.240 and around the country's resisting your It makes no sense 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:27.640 if it doesn't fit your must equip judge. You are 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:31.560 the last line of reason in this case. Every one 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:35.040 of us took it all the sas and we're scorn 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:39.160 to a poll of the Constitution. From Tenderfoot TV in Atlanta, 0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:45.440 this is sworn. I'm your host, Philip Holloway. This episode 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:48.320 is dedicated to the memory of the lives lost in 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:53.680 the October one mass murder in Las Vegas, Nevada. It's 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:57.240 also dedicated in honor of the first responders and Seville 0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:01.000 and heroes who prevented this from being any more terrible 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:05.240 than it already was. The uncomfortable truth is that mass 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:08.720 murder has been around as long as human kind. We'll 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:11.680 explore the question of whether anything could have been done 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:15.319 to prevent this tragedy in Las Vegas, while we also 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:18.959 explore and break down the Second Amendment and what the 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:37.720 Supreme Court has told us that the Second Amendment means. 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:41.840 Joy six nine. We got shots fired for day and 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:44.759 bringing any one. So I'm like, I'm out a fire 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:54.520 up because that when you signed dammy shop, I'll start 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:58.400 generally me. I'll play off like a shot gun. I'll 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:09.959 play up Drols. We have a we have an acre room, 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:17.760 brave and the whole ward got the audience of the 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:20.880 thirty sickond floors. One has explosive breach everyone and know 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:23.320 how I need to lose it back. All units move back. 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:28.480 We need the air flare for Debra. Twenty one suspicked 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:31.560 down inside the room. Twenty one s picked down inside 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:47.799 the room. There's one down, thirty sick animal day. On 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:53.600 the night of October one, America experienced an unspeakable tragedy, 0:02:54.160 --> 0:02:57.720 the largest mass shooting in modern US history and the 0:02:57.840 --> 0:03:01.520 most fatal attack on our soil since September eleven, two 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:05.880 thousand one. A gunman named Stephen Paddock opened fire on 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:11.080 the audience at the Root Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada. 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:13.959 Our hearts go out to the friends and the families 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:17.560 of any and all of the victims. Our deepest condolences 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:20.720 are extended to those who lost their lives and the 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:24.880 loved ones they left behind, and our greatest hope is 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:28.880 for a swift and full recovery for everyone who was injured. 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:31.880 Up to this date, the US mass shooting with the 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:35.960 most fatalities was in Orlando, Florida, at the Pulse nightclub 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:40.480 in June of The shooter in that case was Omar Matene, 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:43.960 who killed forty nine people and wounded fifty eight at 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:46.920 the least. With mass shootings like the Las Vegas massacre 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:49.680 at the forefront of everyone's mind, I'd like to take 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:53.600 this opportunity to discuss the topical issues at hand. This 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:56.320 tragic incident has brought a lot of attention to the 0:03:56.440 --> 0:04:00.400 ongoing political discussion of gun control laws and terrorism and 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:03.560 what can we do to protect ourselves in situations like this. 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:07.360 Of course, this podcast is not a political discussion, and 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:09.680 it's not our intention to make it one. But this 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:13.240 is also a real part of the criminal justice system, 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:16.600 and so it's relevant and appropriate for us to discuss 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:19.840 the issue of mass murder. So to tie this into 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:23.039 the greater theme of SWORN, I'll be discussing the issues 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:26.000 that have risen in the media since the Las Vegas massacre, 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:29.200 and I'll be discussing them through the lens of legality. 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:33.600 Would gun control laws helped prevent this situation from occurring? 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:37.440 How else would gun control laws affect us as a country. 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:42.479 Why isn't this labeled as domestic terrorism? Some people think 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:46.920 that it should be. However, federal law defines terrorism as 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:50.960 the use of violence to intimidate or coerce a government 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:55.960 or civilians to influence policy. So if this isn't that, 0:04:56.400 --> 0:05:00.280 then what is it. Here's Sworn producer Meredith Steadman with 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:03.880 a more detailed look at the events of the tragedy 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:09.640 of October one in Las Vegas. The sadness surrounding the 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:13.679 events of October one has been inescapable. The Las Vegas 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:17.120 massacre has permeated our news outlets, as it should given 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:22.120 the devastating circumstances. Because there's been such constant coverage, it 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:25.160 can be hard to keep the facts straight. We wanted 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:27.520 to give you a brief overview of what information has 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:31.240 been disclosed. The perpetrator of this massacre was sixty four 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:35.120 year old Stephen Craig Paddock. Paddock, who lived in multiple 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:37.400 places throughout the course of his life, was currently a 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:40.680 resident of Mesquite, Nevada, about an hour from Las Vegas. 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:45.680 He was an accountant and a real estate investor, successful 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:48.440 enough to sustain his gambling hobby, which brought him to 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:53.719 Las Vegas fairly often. Paddock suggested that his girlfriend Mary 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:56.160 Lou Danley go to the Philippines two weeks before the 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:59.080 incident occurred. He bought her a plane ticket and later 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:02.480 wired her a thousand dollars. She said she had no 0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:05.400 knowledge of his plans or of any mental health issues 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:10.000 that he may have been struggling with. Paddock's brother, Eric Paddock, 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:15.039 said the same. The massacre began just after ten pm 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.279 on Sunday night. From his room on the thirty second 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:21.479 floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort. Paddock opened fired into 0:06:21.520 --> 0:06:24.840 the crowd at the Root Harvest Music Festival during the 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:28.480 set of country singer Jason al Dean. Paddock has smashed 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:30.359 out the window of his hotel room with a hammer. 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:35.520 Prior to shooting, Paddock placed cameras in and around his room, 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:38.240 one in the people in, two in the hallway to 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:42.320 monitor the hallways for security personnel. He had twenty three 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:45.960 rifles in the hotel room and one handgun. Twelve of 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:49.000 the firearms were altered with bump fire stocks, which allow 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:53.960 semi automatic rifles to function as fully automatic weapons. After 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:57.040 a search was conducted, nineteen more firearms were found in 0:06:57.080 --> 0:07:00.800 Paddock's home, along with explosives in severn a thousand rounds 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:05.480 of ammunition. Ammonium nitrate, often used in homemade explosives, was 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:08.720 found in the trunk of his car. Paddock was found 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:11.160 dead in his room with a self inflicted gunshot wound 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:16.680 to the head. His motive is still undetermined. People were 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:20.240 killed in this incident, with over five dred injured. This 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:22.960 is now the largest mass shooting in modern UN's history, 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:39.520 surpassing the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando. Good afternoon, is 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:42.320 this Dr Wilki, Good after day and how are you today? 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:45.240 Doing great? How are you sir? Well? I think all 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:47.640 things are fine, looking forward to a nice week in 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:50.360 the weather. Would you mind starting by letting us know 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:52.680 just a little bit about who you are and identifying 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:55.720 yourself please? I served in the Atlanta area as the 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:58.000 chief of police of the City of Aca George up 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:00.760 in cop County for right at ten years twenty five 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:04.800 years total in the law enforcement field, before retiring six 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:08.120 years ago to go on exactly at Bob Jens University 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:11.280 I've be in Greenville, South Carolina about James Is as 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:15.240 a Christian College, and I teach in our criminal justice section, 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:19.000 graduate the FBI National Academy, hold a doctoral degree in 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:24.080 public administration from Baldosta State University. For most of my 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:27.600 time as a as a law enforcement officer, I also 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:31.440 served as a police firearms instructor. How long have you 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:35.560 been teaching firearms? How many years total teaching firearms? Probably 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:38.760 somewhere in excess of twenty five years, and in terms 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:43.000 of handling films, something excess of fifty years. Does that 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:46.880 include what's commonly referred to as assault rifles as well, 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:51.000 that misnomer that is given to platforms such as the 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:54.160 a R fifteen. Yes, I do handle those firearms and 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:57.400 have shot them and have instructed in them. How about 0:08:57.440 --> 0:09:02.040 fully automatic weapons? I'm not certified and fully automatic weapons 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:05.520 handled a number of them, both in the civilian law 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:08.959 enforcement in the military context. I'm not actually certified to 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:13.120 teach that particular file. So we want to talk about 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:15.880 what happened in Las Vegas. I'm sure you've been following 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:19.800 the news, and one of the topics that I want 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:24.240 to talk about first is go back and explain why 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:27.360 you said the term assault rifle is a misnomer place 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:32.000 that term is applied to some way that we've made 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:35.640 in funt arms such as the ALE fifteen, the a 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:39.600 K four seven similar firearms like that that are long 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:44.240 rifles that have a magazine capacity, usually in excess of 0:09:44.800 --> 0:09:48.720 ten rounds in the magazine. That's worthing. The term assault 0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:52.720 rifle really essentially showed about nowhere as far as I'm concerned, 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:57.079 is a essentially a media term that has been handled 0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:01.400 and given to a number of different firms platforms such 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:05.360 as the a R fifteen, a K forty seven, and 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:09.400 other rifles that will handle magazines that have capacity of 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:12.800 more than ten rounds or so your average hunting rifle 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:16.319 magazine on the hulls somewhere around three to five rounds, 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:19.920 depending on what the state allows for hunting purposes. Pretty 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:22.840 much anything over that, the media has just started calling 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:25.560 them assault lines, which is I don't think really an 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:30.320 appropriate term now. As a civilian and as a firearms 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:33.520 instructor and as an advocate frankly for the Second Amendment, 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:36.880 I think that there's the question that if you begin 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:40.839 to limit the types of access that civilians in this 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:45.600 country can have to firearms to an a K forty seven. 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:48.839 That's the camel sticking its nose under the proverbial tent. 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:52.760 And you just have a whole population that just does 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:55.640 not trust where the government will stop on that sort 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:57.679 of thing. And I think that the answer is not 0:10:57.800 --> 0:10:59.880 to go after the gun. The answer is to go 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:02.760 after the violin. And if you have people in this 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:06.800 country who commit crimes while they are armed, that's where 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:10.640 our most serious penalties need to be, and to take people, 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:14.040 put them in jail and leave them in jail if 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:17.880 they committed a crime and had a firearm on their person. 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:22.480 In the middle nineteen nineties, we began incarcerating people seriously 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:25.839 in this country who had committed serious felts and we 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:28.160 took them out of the pool of being able to 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:33.320 commit additional crimes. And since the middle nineteen nineties, across 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:38.319 the country, violent crime has plummeted because we are taking 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:41.240 the repeat offenders out of circulation. They couldn't do their 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:43.920 crimes anymore. We put them in jail, We put them 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:46.920 in a place where they cannot harm people. In South 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:51.959 Carolina alone, since ninet, violent crime has dropped over and 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:57.160 that statistic is fairly well mirrored across the country. That 0:11:57.320 --> 0:11:59.760 gives us a pretty good answer right there. Take the 0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:03.240 people who couldmit gun crime, put them in jail, and 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:06.880 leave them in jail. And I commented to this group 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:09.959 that to date to that day, a couple of weeks ago, 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:14.160 the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando ranked as the highest 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:17.439 mass shooting that we had in the United States. But 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:20.040 I told that as I said, but don't worry. There's 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:22.920 someone out there right now who was thinking about the 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:26.079 Fulse nightclub shooting and saying to themselves, I'm going to 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:28.880 go set the new record and long behold. Two weeks 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:31.600 or so after I made that statement, someone comes along 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:34.959 and does what this individual did and killing all of 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:39.119 those people. When the Second Amendment was drafted and adopted, 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:42.240 basically they were dealing with muskets, and obviously an air 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:45.600 fifteen is much more powerful than a musket. So back 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:47.880 in that day, you know, if they wanted to, they 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:50.640 could afford one. They could own a cannon out in 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:53.480 the backyard instead of shooting skip that's our cannonballs if 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:55.679 they wanted to. I'm saying that someone is just, but 0:12:56.040 --> 0:12:58.520 I'm also seeing it to make a point exactly what 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:02.720 the militaries have in terms of their firepower and their weapons. 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:06.000 This is exactly what the civilians were entitled to have 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:10.000 under the Second Amendment. It would be not that difficult 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:14.679 to take a semi automatic firearm of any nature and 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:18.920 converted into an automatic firearm. It would not be that 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:23.360 terribly difficult to do that with anything, which when you 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:26.160 stop and think about that, if that's what happened, and 0:13:26.280 --> 0:13:29.080 I don't know that that's what happened, all the details 0:13:29.200 --> 0:13:32.600 not at yet, but if that's what happened with demand 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:36.040 few is responsible for shooting all those people in Las Vegas, 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:39.000 then he already demonstrated going to break the law to 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:41.360 do what he did. What law can we pass that 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:45.760 would have stopped that? Well? As us needed. The District 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:50.480 of Columbia as a model policy and model city ordinance 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:55.240 that prevents the distribution and ownership firearms and restricts them 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:57.600 and so forth. And that's why the District of Columbia 0:13:58.040 --> 0:13:59.800 has one of the lowest Oh wait a minute, no, 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:03.480 it don't. The District of Columbia, even with their stringent 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:06.360 laws that were founded in a constitutional has one of 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:09.439 the highest NERD routes for Capola in the country, so 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:11.800 let's go out to it. How about the city of Chicago. 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:14.839 They have some pretty good ordinance there. They're restrictive on 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:17.679 gun possession and ship and that's why they have some 0:14:17.840 --> 0:14:20.480 of the lowest crime rates and the nerd Wait, wait, no, 0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:23.400 they don't. They have some of the highest actions of 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:26.920 gun violence and murder in the country. I'm not sure 0:14:26.960 --> 0:14:28.960 that we can come up with the law because of 0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:31.000 those that we have on the bucks have not been 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:35.560 factored in deterring gun violence. And that's why I'm contending, 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:38.000 you know, the focus ought to be on the offender, 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:41.120 not on the firelar. You do any kind of crime 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:45.560 with a gun, then you have demonstrated a willingness to 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:48.480 use that gun and kill somebody. The mere fact that 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.680 you have it with you when you're committing a crime 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:54.840 shows that you're willing to use it. Maybe you didn't 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:57.360 use it when you robbed that bank. Maybe you can't 0:14:57.360 --> 0:14:59.480 shoot anybody, but you had it with you. And you 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:02.320 know why, as a society, we are not going to 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:04.680 give you that chance again. We're gonna take you and 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:07.200 put you in jail, put the rest of your natural life. 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:10.120 What would you advise people to do in the event 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:12.840 of an active shooter if they find themselves, you know, 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:15.640 in a situation like we saw in Las Vegas. There 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:18.480 are a number of different training systems that are out there, 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:21.600 but most of them come down around three fundamental things 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:26.200 that an individual should do if they find themselves subject 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:28.800 to an active shooter. And the number one thing that 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:31.960 is recommended by in the training systems and I think 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:34.720 by law enforcement as well, this is on the FBI website, 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:39.400 is to run, at the minimum, create a moving target. 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:41.400 It's hard hit one that is moving than it is 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:44.360 to quiet wom that is just simply standing there. But 0:15:44.720 --> 0:15:48.120 get out of there, run as fast as you can 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:51.960 and remove yourself from the scene. That's the number one 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:56.960 recommendation from all circles. Secondly, if you cannot run, perhaps 0:15:57.040 --> 0:16:00.200 the shooter is somehow between you and you and an 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:02.880 egress from the building, your point of exit from the building. 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:07.640 If you cannot run, then you hide, hide under something, 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:10.960 Barricade yourself in a room, lock the doors, turn out 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:14.960 the lights, get furniture in front of the door, making 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:17.200 yourself as a flat on the floor as you can't, 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:21.880 and be absolutely silent and hide because maybe as the 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:25.800 shooter moves to the building looking for victims. Maybe he'll 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:28.920 miss you because you are well hidden. But then failing 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:33.040 that you can't run and you can't hide, or perhaps 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:35.640 the shoot find you. Your last option is to fight, 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:39.480 and by fighting, that means you offer everything you've got 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:42.640 to try to stop that shooter from killing you or 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:46.240 injuring you or someone else. At that point, it's your 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:48.360 life against the life of the person who's a sailing 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:52.400 and you throw everything you possibly have at that individual 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:56.640 to stop them. If you happen to be an armed citizen, 0:16:56.880 --> 0:16:59.800 you know, someone who is authorized by your perspective state 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:02.720 to carry your fireing on your person, if you have 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:06.560 the opportunity to engage that individual with that firearm, then 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:08.679 you would certainly do so to try to protect yourself 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:11.080 and others. That's not something you want to do in 0:17:11.119 --> 0:17:13.640 the middle of your church congregation with six hundred people 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:16.600 standing around, or as Philip and I've talked about in 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:19.040 the past, and you know, maybe crowded movie theaters or 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:22.320 places like that, that just limits your options because you 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:25.040 cannot go shooting in there, you know, and take a 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:28.399 chance on on missing and hitting an innocent person. You 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:31.040 fight for your life because your life is on the line. 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:37.600 You cannot legislate evil into non existence. Let's be clear 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:41.760 about one thing. Sworn is not a political podcast, but 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:45.040 we cannot forget that there are lots of people whose 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:48.480 opinions differ from Mike Wilkis. On the other side of 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:51.640 his argument. There are also those who believe that gun 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:55.119 restriction is truly the only way to see a definitive 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:58.640 decrease in these tragedies. For a differing viewpoint, we talked 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:02.960 to Antoine Seawright, a Democratic strategist who, like Mike Wilkie, 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:06.280 is from South Carolina. So just to give your background, 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:08.840 I'm a political consultant and one of my clients was 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:11.640 killed in a church two years ago here in South 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:15.800 Carolina is the state Senator Clemente Pinkney. And I don't 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:18.440 know if you remember when Dylan Ruth, the white terrorists 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:21.240 who killed nine people in the church here in South Carolina. 0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:25.320 Clemented the past of the church was my client. It's 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:28.400 a simple thing we called the Charleston loophole. His background 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:31.080 check in the time period did not come back, but 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:34.560 they still sold him the gun. And so had there 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:36.240 been a law in place that says, look if the 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:39.239 background check does not come back within three days, then 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:41.480 you can't purchase a gun. Then perhaps he never would 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:43.640 have been able to have a gun to shoot nine people. 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:48.159 So my name is Antoine ce Right. I own a 0:18:48.520 --> 0:18:54.600 public relations, advertising and political strategy firm called Blueprint Strategy, 0:18:55.040 --> 0:18:59.640 is based here in Columbia, South Carolina. I've done from 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:03.359 a pain perspective. I've probably been involved in well over 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:07.600 a hundred and fifty campaigns and well over a hundred 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:14.560 ballot initiatives represent a number of political entities as well 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:19.280 as elected officials, from members of you guys Congress on 0:19:19.400 --> 0:19:23.040 down to dog Catcher. I also am on Fox News 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:26.800 on occasion to provide some political commentary, and I have 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:29.200 a radio show. Can we just go straight into it 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:32.159 and have you explained to us your standpoint on gun 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:34.760 control us. Well, first of all, let me just say 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:37.720 my thoughts and prayers are with the families and the 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:41.359 community of Las Vegas, because when one of our brothers 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:44.920 and sisters in this country are hurting or have feel 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:47.000 some sort of pain, I think we all hurt. And 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:50.880 it's very tragic. What happened one of the largest killings 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:54.240 on record, and I call the massacre is very unfortunate 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:57.359 that the person who shot and kill these people and 0:19:57.440 --> 0:20:00.280 injured so many others has not been labeled as a 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:04.359 domestic terrorist. There's another shooting, and here we are having 0:20:04.400 --> 0:20:08.200 another conversation about gun laws. Yet some of my Republican 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:12.600 friends and Republican leaders say, as soon as these things happened, 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:16.160 not the time. Well we've had almost a week now 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:19.640 in between the incident and we still have not had 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:24.440 a legislative conversation about gun control laws. And one could 0:20:24.520 --> 0:20:28.560 argue that, oh, well, we don't need more gun control laws. 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:31.760 We just need to pray for our country, or we 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:34.720 just need to deal with the people who have been 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:37.359 committing these crimes because they have mental issues, and we 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:40.680 can keep making excuses. But the more excuses we make, 0:20:40.800 --> 0:20:44.480 the more people literally will die on American soul, not 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:48.560 by anyone from any country that Mr Trump proposes Muslim 0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:53.280 band form, but these are homegrown American terrorists. So with 0:20:53.480 --> 0:20:57.320 Las Vegas specifically, do you think that it could have 0:20:57.400 --> 0:21:01.720 been prevented? Absolutely, But we have learned so far is 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:06.159 that one perhaps change in the law to deal with 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:11.359 bump stocks could have perhaps prevented this is happening. We 0:21:11.480 --> 0:21:16.080 also spoke with Kim Alfano, a parent and GOP strategist. 0:21:16.520 --> 0:21:18.919 She told us about a personal experience with a shooting 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:22.080 close to her daughter's school. Even as a representative of 0:21:22.119 --> 0:21:25.520 the Republican Party and their candidates, she believes that there 0:21:25.600 --> 0:21:29.040 are some modifications that could be made to existing gun 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:33.760 laws that might increase everyone's safety. I'm Kim Alfano. I 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:37.320 own a political media consulting firm on the Republican side 0:21:37.480 --> 0:21:42.320 for twenty seven years now. I also worked in education 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:47.600 advocacy and education reform advocacy, criminal justice reform advocacy, and 0:21:47.760 --> 0:21:49.960 do some types of things like that on the side 0:21:50.160 --> 0:21:53.680 versus just candidate work and raise my daughter. Speaking of 0:21:53.720 --> 0:21:56.280 your daughter, could you tell that story and then kind 0:21:56.320 --> 0:21:59.840 of tied into your thoughts on gun control? When might 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:02.960 it was in first grade? It was shortly after Sandy Hook. 0:22:03.320 --> 0:22:06.920 We lived in downtown Alexandria, Virginia, right outside DC. She 0:22:07.000 --> 0:22:09.880 went to an adorable little public school. They were outside 0:22:09.920 --> 0:22:14.080 playing on playground, and the playground is kind of It's 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:16.959 a very pedestrian city. It's not, you know, like being 0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:19.280 in downtown New York. But it's also not like being 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:21.080 in the suburbs where the schools are kind of off 0:22:21.119 --> 0:22:23.520 in a field. There are people walking by at all 0:22:23.600 --> 0:22:26.240 times and cars and things, and their playgrounds sort of 0:22:26.280 --> 0:22:29.520 fenced in by three sides, and the kindergarten and first 0:22:29.560 --> 0:22:31.720 graders were all out on the playground at that moment, 0:22:32.000 --> 0:22:33.880 and she happened to be back by the back part 0:22:33.920 --> 0:22:36.200 of the fence that sort of faced the neighborhood street 0:22:36.720 --> 0:22:39.840 and was playing on the swings and there was a 0:22:40.200 --> 0:22:44.160 guy who had committed some crimes and was I guess 0:22:44.200 --> 0:22:47.800 he was walking through the streets of Alexandria. Basically officer 0:22:47.840 --> 0:22:50.480 little boy whose children had gone to Belas School, so 0:22:50.560 --> 0:22:52.879 he was very familiar to the kids at the school. 0:22:53.600 --> 0:22:58.040 He happened to pull this guy over and he walked 0:22:58.119 --> 0:23:00.680 up to the car. He didn't realize this guy had 0:23:01.320 --> 0:23:03.760 committed a crime. He wasn't looking for him. I think 0:23:03.760 --> 0:23:06.480 he pulled him over for a traffic violation and the 0:23:07.080 --> 0:23:10.240 guy had pulled out a gun and shot him point 0:23:10.280 --> 0:23:13.600 blank in the head. And he was on the other 0:23:13.640 --> 0:23:15.119 side of the car from the kids. You know, there 0:23:15.200 --> 0:23:17.000 was basically the road the sidewalk, and the kids are 0:23:17.040 --> 0:23:19.320 inside the fence, so some of the kids were right 0:23:19.400 --> 0:23:21.840 up against the fence he was luckily on the other 0:23:21.960 --> 0:23:25.800 side of the car, so they didn't see everything go down. 0:23:25.920 --> 0:23:28.960 But basically, you know, my daughter said she heard pops 0:23:29.000 --> 0:23:30.760 because she had her back to it. She was swinging 0:23:30.800 --> 0:23:33.439 on the swings, and some of the kids said they 0:23:33.480 --> 0:23:36.440 heard something, you know, heard like a bag thud. So 0:23:36.560 --> 0:23:39.080 basically it was the officer falling down like some really 0:23:39.080 --> 0:23:43.280 smart teachers heard it, realized what was going on, grabbed 0:23:43.280 --> 0:23:45.639 all the kids. They all were brought inside. They were 0:23:45.680 --> 0:23:47.880 locked down in the gym. Again, this is right after 0:23:47.960 --> 0:23:52.840 Sandy Hook, so everybody was completely on edge anyway, locked 0:23:52.920 --> 0:23:54.800 him down, They did the drill where they all had 0:23:54.840 --> 0:23:56.919 to sit in the gym, and then there was an 0:23:56.960 --> 0:23:59.680 email sent out to parents, Hey, we're locked down. Here's 0:23:59.720 --> 0:24:02.560 the situation as we know it. And then probably about 0:24:02.600 --> 0:24:05.640 thirty five minutes later, they realized it was an isolated incident. 0:24:06.119 --> 0:24:08.760 They had gone to catch the guy. He fled. The 0:24:09.000 --> 0:24:11.720 metic Metavac helicopter landed in the schoolyard to take the 0:24:12.040 --> 0:24:14.840 police officer off to the hospital, and the kids were 0:24:14.880 --> 0:24:17.359 out of their sort of Jim lockdown by then, so 0:24:17.440 --> 0:24:18.920