Vegas campus shooting: Why this one was different
I'm a conservative national TV and radio talk-show host. But what's unique is where I host my shows: from Las Vegas. This has been my adopted home for over 22 years.
There is an important lesson to be learned from Las Vegas ... and from the terrible attack on UNLV (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) Wednesday. Three people were murdered by an active shooter on our university campus – a campus my loved ones attend. A dear family member was on campus when the mass murder spree began. I thank God he is alive and safe.
To understand the most important lesson of this terrible attack, you have to understand how different Vegas is from any other big city in America.
Las Vegas has been America's fastest-growing city for decades. I remember when Vegas had 300,000 residents. Vegas is now a big city with 3 million residents in its metro area, over 40 million yearly tourists, NFL football, the NHL Champion Golden Knights, WNBA champion Aces, Major League Baseball on the way and NBA coming soon. We are hosting the Super Bowl in 60 days.
This former small town is the very symbol of America, American exceptionalism and capitalism.
But we are very different than other big cities. Vegas is nothing like New York, Chicago, L.A. or San Francisco. They are very liberal; they want to defund the police; those cities were the center of BLM riots and, more recently, massive pro-Hamas protests.
Here in Las Vegas, we had none of that. I've never even heard a person mention "defund the police." Here in Vegas, we love, support and appreciate the police.
I believe we've even made history with our support of the police: Nevada is (to my knowledge) the first and only state in the history of America to elect policemen as our governor and lieutenant governor. Joe Lombardo is the Republican governor of Nevada – he is the former Las Vegas Metro police chief. Stavros Anthony is the Republican lieutenant governor – he is a former Las Vegas Metro police captain. I'm proud to call them both personal friends and frequent guests on my radio show.
How's that for different than New York, Chicago, L.A. or any other American big city?
That love and support of police paid off big time this week. One of my dearest family members was on campus when the text alerts told him an active shooter was on campus and to "run, hide, fight."
It turns out campus police got to the scene of the first shots within minutes, engaged the shooter and killed him. Without fast action by police, there could have been hundreds shot and killed – all defenseless students.
But that's not the whole story. My family member sheltered in place for a short while, then walked outside his building. What he saw was truly amazing. Here is how he described it: "I saw hundreds of police vehicles and literally a thousand police officers of all kinds. They swarmed the campus; they were on the roofs of buildings. It looked like 9/11. I've never seen this many police and police vehicles, even in a movie. It was an incredible sight. At that moment, I knew we were safe."
Vegas isn't like other big cities in another important way. New York and L.A. and Chicago are spread out. Vegas is about "the Strip." Thousands of cops patrol in and around the world-famous Vegas Strip. UNLV is right behind the Strip. Within seconds of the call of "active shooter on UNLV campus," every cop in this city raced to UNLV and surrounded the campus.
Then they did what all courageous cops do. See the photos and videos of these brave heroes racing onto campus with assault rifles in their hands, ready to save the lives of those students.
President Joe Biden arrives here on Friday – no doubt to score political points for gun control. Don't listen to this ignorant politician. This isn't about guns or making cheap political points. Biden won't mention that good guys with guns saved hundreds of lives Wednesday afternoon.
If I wanted to make this about politics, I'd blame "gun-free zones." UNLV is a "gun-free zone." That leaves our kids helpless, like fish in a barrel to an active shooter.
If I wanted to make this about politics, I'd point out this college professor murderer was most likely an angry, violent, leftist, "defund the police," radical America hater – because this describes 95% of college professors.
But I won't go there. This isn't a time for politics. It is a time for learning lessons. Former President Barack Obama would call it a "teachable moment."
The one lesson that stands out above all else is: Thank God for the police.
When your life is in danger (or your children's), no sight is as beautiful as police officers in blue, with badges and guns drawn, running toward you. At that moment, you'll thank God for police.
So, stop with the idiocy of police hatred ... and constant condemning of police ... and "defund the police." What we all need is more police and more funding for police.
I thank God police officers keep my neighborhood safe from crime. And I thank God they were there at UNLV within minutes to protect and defend all those precious college students, including someone I love dearly. Police saved the day for our city, and my family.
Thank our police chief-turned-governor. Thank our police captain-turned-lieutenant governor. Thank our police chief Sheriff Kevin McMahill. Thank all the courageous Las Vegas police officers who raced into danger Dec. 6.
It's time for a new movement called "Defend the Police and Triple-Fund the Police."
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