If These Are The Guys Who Are Supposed To Prevent Mass Shootings, We’re In Trouble

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Anti-gunners seem to live under this illusion that law enforcement will somehow have the ability to always be there to stop a violent crime if they can just get the guns out of the hands of everyone else. And I’ll be the first to admit that fantasizing about a peaceful world is a nice fantasy.

But that just isn’t the reality.

Even if police officers could predict where violence would occur before it would happen, you then have the problem of making sure that law enforcement officers take the action that they need to take.

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Unfortunately, they don’t always do what needs to be done. Tamar Lapin tells us about a recent example of law enforcement officers not getting the job done:

Newly released body camera footage shows Las Vegas police officers pausing for several minutes in the hallway of the Mandalay Bay hotel — as mass shooter Stephen Paddock guns down 58 people on the floor directly above them.

“Holy sh-t that’s rapid fire,” officer Cordell Hendrex utters in the chilling video, reacting to Paddock’s gunfire — which he later described as “like thunder all around and above us,” according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The officer and his first-day trainee, Elif Varsin, stayed on the 31st floor for four-and-a-half minutes, even as they heard the shooter’s position reported as “the 32nd floor, room 135.”

“I’m inside the Mandalay Bay on the 31st floor,” Hendrex says in the video. “I can hear the automatic fire coming from one floor ahead, one floor above us.”

In a report, he later wrote that he “froze right there in the middle of the hall” after being terrified.

Three armed Mandalay Bay officers were with the Metro cops during the incident.

Now, if you think that is just an isolated incident, think again. There were four police officers who could have intervened to stop the Parkland, Florida school shooting, and all of them waited before entering the school.

Why did they wait? I would assume fear, and I understand being scared. But that is part of what their training is for: to get them to do the scary thing when they are afraid so that lives are saved.

But if police officers can’t do it, then it is up to regular, everyday, legally-armed citizens to stop mass shooters. Because we’re the ones at the scene when it happens.

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18 COMMENTS

  1. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court of the United States has repeatedly contended that the police have no ‘duty’ or ‘responsibility’ to put their lives in danger to protect the citizens. Their job, according to SCOTUS is to protect ‘society’ not the individual. I read this as waiting until everything is done, and going in to write a report (that may or may not be factual). Yes, they can sit in their car eating Krispy Creams and watch a violent crime go down (rape, assault, or even murder) and then go in after the fact to get information. Luckily MOST of the men and women who wear a badge will NOT behave this way, many if not most go out of their way to do their best to help and secure us, but that is, according to SCOTUS, above and beyond the call of duty.

  2. What part of “SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED “ don’t they understand? Be Strong,Be Vigilant,Be Prepared,& Be Ready For The Possibility, Not The Probabilitie ! Stay In The WORD OF GOD,Know Your GOD GIVEN Rights in the BILL of Rights & The Constitution ✝️🇺🇸

  3. Nobody can predict exactly how they will react to a shooting the first time they are involved in one, but needless to say, the instinct for self preservation is ingrained in all of us. And our fight or flight instinct is very strong and thus we may take cover, draw and look for a target, strike first without hesitation, get into a fetal position and freeze, or duck, dodge and run until we feel we are far enough away to be safe. Most people would be stunned by the sudden shock of gunfire or violence and hesitate a minute and then start to take action, but it will shake you up initially.

    Regardless of how police officers are trained or what protocols they follow, they can’t be there to stop the initial criminal acts that a perpetrator may decide to carry out. So, we need to depend on ourselves for at least the first 15-30 minutes, which is enough time for some sadistic crack dependent hood to break into your home and shoot, cut or beat you to death or to begin raping family members or room mates in the domicile.

    The gun grabbers are fooling themselves and they are more concerned about guns in homes or carried by law abiding citizens than by the violence those same people will experience as they wait, unarmed and defenseless, for the police to arrive, surround the house, set up road blocks, call for their K-9 units and SWAT. In the meantime, the people already “on the scene” and who are facing the danger can’t do anything.

  4. In some cases, yes, I do believe the responding officer doesn’t act out of fear. Believe me when I say, far too many cops should NOT be cops! But, the vast majority of cops will do as trained; arrive on scene, if the problem is too big for that officer, then WAIT FOR BACK-UP, as trained,and directed by Department Policy! But, for every officer that “freezes in Fear”, there are 9 others who would jump in the way of a bullet to save a citizen! Those are the guys and gals who wade right in, and stop the ugliness, and do it face to face! Unfortunately, those are also the officers who burn out in 5 or 10 years, and start to look at every traffic stop, and every Domestic, as a personal assault against them, and they start to respond in kind. Of course, the other 10%, the bad apples, so to speak, they just keep rocking along, making the rest of us look bad, until everybody we try to help, prefers charges against us, the ones who stand on the line every day for your benefit! It’s a vicious cycle, and far too many “Good Guys” get caught in the middle, and get hurt! And, we get the blame! It’s really no big wonder why the wrong guys stay on the force, and the right guys go to another town, until they just find another job!

    • As a old LEO I agree 90% of all the men and women I worked with would jump in right from the start. Only in Coward County would officers hide. The attitude is ingrained in most of us. We run in when others run out. Coral Springs PD was the first team to enter…the also had a team of specially trained cops and firemedic trained to go in and deal with an active shooter. They were denied entry by the Coward County on scene commander. Coward County has a yellow streak running down its back. Of course the idiots and imbeciles scream why did these men worry about the kids not their job. They weren’t concerned for their jobs. They were worried about god forbid their freedom and their families. Had they entered without permission and one of them be killed they would all face manslaughter charges. I know the late father of the Coward Sheriff he is probably rolling over in his grave to see what a POS his son turned out to be Sonny was a mucb loved Deputy. Now for the worse news SCOTUS decided that the police have no duty to act. They are ” cime accountants. Collect and maintain the. scene. Thats what they are expected to do. I tried to explain that to the father of one of the victimsfamily but they continued on with the bottom feeders. they get nothing.

  5. Thirty-eight years ago when I graduated from the Police Academy we were trained and motivated. During my thirty year career the training and peer pressure to do the job changed to beware litigation and as the anti-police movement grew the Police department stopped getting good applicants who were frustrated by affirmative action stopped applying. Now I know there are many brave officers out there trying to do their job, but crap like Ferguson happens and you realize nobody has got your back. Maybe that was what the Vegas officers were thinking or maybe they were better trained at not getting involved than doing the JOB.

  6. LAWENFORCEMENT CAN’T BE ON TIME MOST OF THE TIME AND WHEN THEY ARE IT STILL DOESN’T GARRANTTEE RESULT’S SO YOU NEED TO BE ARMED IN ORDER TO BE PREPARED FOR THE WORSEST!! (HELP THAT DOESN’T HELP!!)

  7. Patriots,
    Do we want to stop violence? Let’s start with ANTIFA, BLACK LIVES MATTER, AND VIOLENT LIBERALS. We have been too passive while they use violence. It is time for the silent majority to start taking action.
    MAGA!!! DRAIN THE SWAMP. STOP THE MSM PROPOGANDA.

  8. THE POLICE/COPS WILL SAVE YOU ( MYTH) THE SHERIFFS DEPUTIES RAN AWAY AT MARJORIE STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL ALLOWING AN UNKNOWN NUMBER OF STUDENTS WHO COULD HAVE BEEN SAVED TO DIE??? >> when you have only seconds to live the cops are only minutes away>>actually you’re dead when the arrive. >>FACT<>(MYTH) mass murderers DO NOT PERPETRATE SHOOTINGS IN GUN FREE ZONES.(FACT) actually there are are more mass murders perpetrated in gun free zones than any where else in this country.UNARMED TARGETS WITH NO PROTECTION ARE EASIER TO MURDER>>NO ARMED PROTECTION COPS/TEACHERS// ECT>>>> THE MORE VICTIM’S FACT>> THERE ARE NO MASS MURDERS OF STUDENTS PERPETRATED IN THE NYC SCHOOL SYSTEM WHY ARMED POLICE OFFICERS AND SCHOOL SECURITY OFFICERS FACT>>> GUN CONTROL IS NOT ABOUT FIRE ARMS IT’S ABOUT PEOPLE CONTROL FACT>>>>

  9. When I was a grunt (infantry) squad leader in Nam I (and most of the bush veterans) became very wary of new guys who were cocky and especially the ones who said they “couldn’t wait to get into the shit”. When I heard one FNG (freaking new guy) say something to the the effect that he “couldn’t wait to throw a frag”. At this point I asked him if he ever thought that if he was close enough to throw a frag, so was Charlie.
    I agree with Frank that nobody knows who is going to react in the right manner. But professionals need to be trained to the point of reacting correctly so that the mission is completed with the lowest possible loss of life of the good guys.
    Remember the “Rule of the 7 P’s”. “Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance”.
    In the Corps it was understood to protect your brothers before thinking about yourself.

  10. As a retired law enforcement officer it makes me sick to see and hear of the cowardly act, or lack of action by some officers. If you are a coward you have no business being a cop. All but two men I worked with ran toward gunshots instead of from them, and those two didn’t last long. Not that the brass fired them, but it was from peer pressure that they left. Now I read that the LAPD has said it will run from rioters rather than face them. A riot erupted in the city where I worked, and we faced them down and broke up the first night with no riot gear. The second night, the chief had left the city and named a lieutenant as the acting chief. He gave orders that we were going to protect the citizens and the city whatever it took. That was the last night of the riot.

  11. The above article or comment aside, take a look at the law, as it actually exists, the law as expressed by court rulings and or decisions. Courts at every imaginable level, federal, state and local have opined of ruled on multiple occasions that ” the police owe the individual no particular service, protection or anything else, that the police are there to protect society”. You figure out what that means.

  12. It means that the cops have become useless. Not by bad cops but by the courts decisions. Who is going to protect the victims? Most of the time the cops are forbidden to take action because the department heads don’t want to be sued or condemned by those scream police brutality when it is obviously the only way. Are there bad cops? Yes but they should be weeded out long before they pass the academy. Of course that doesn’t insure you catch them all. But you can get the worst of them.

  13. If a citizen steps in to stop the threat with police on scene then the citizen is arrested for interference with official acts at a minimum.

  14. Was trained in the Military to run toward the action. If you became a target while doing so, you were drawing the fire from someone else, giving them a chance to get to safe cover. Your movements distract the “perp” from his/her/their “action,” adding time to the sequence for other defensive individuals to arrive and position themselves for response to the action. Intervening quickly is paramount.

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