I’ve sat back on this one, and other than checking on the well being of friends, stayed pretty much out of it. But, I have read so much FUD surrounding this incredible tragedy, that I need to set some of the record straight. Who am I to address this? In case you did not know, I spent 11 years working in Casino Security on the Las Vegas strip. A huge chunk of my friends include past, and current Security Officers, Supervisors, and Chiefs. For 6 years of that, I worked with, and trained The Best Security Force in the world, at Circus Circus, where we dealt with a volume of calls that would make most departments turn pale. I not only worked in this environment, I along with many of my friends, opened two of the worlds largest casinos, and wrote a very significant portion of the manuals, procedures and training’s that are still in use by the Security Professionals in Las Vegas. I worked day in and day out with the incredible first responders in Vegas and am still good friends with many of LVMPD’s finest. You could say I have a bit of perspective on this one.
“How did he get so many guns, and so much ammo, into his room?” – I keep hearing this one, often in the tone of it has to be a government conspiracy, some in the tone of he had to have help, and some that the Hotel Staff did not do their job. Conspiracy? Seriously? Up your meds or move somewhere else. Seriously, if you think the Government is this corrupt, why would you still live here? Had help, sure, it’s possible, only time will tell. But needed help? No. And, the Hotel Staff did not do their job? I honestly do see how people think that. I do. But, they are wrong. So far, the pictures of the weapons he had that I have seen, most collapsed and disassembled, fitting into non-descript cases. Thousands of rounds of ammo? While kind of heavy, not unreasonably so. Keep in mind, many people travel to Vegas and stay in these Hotels, for conventions. Not just the attendees, but the vendors too. Seeing people go into the Hotel with large, heavy cases, is in no way unusual. I personally have done it myself, checking in with three large wheeled trunks full of the computers, etc for the mobile classroom. Those three cases would have easily held all his armaments. Is this how he did it? I don’t know, and neither do you. But, I do know this is one of many ways he could have done this. He was there for several days before he killed so many. He could have easily made a couple of trips a day out to his car and carried in a gun case or 3 at a time. No one would raise an eye as hunters and gun enthusiasts commonly travel and carry their weaponry. Should someone have noticed he did it more than once? The Mandalay Bay has 3,300 rooms. With an average of more than 2 people per room, that is over 7,000 people moving around all day, just in room guests. Then, people in and out to gamble, visit the restaurants, shows, etc and you are talking north of 20,000 people moving around on a normal day. And the days leading up to this? A lot busier than ‘normal’. Good luck noticing the habits of one guest.
“Why didn’t the Cops, Security or someone carrying concealed fire back?” – EGADS!! Seriously? 32nd floor. Average over 10ft per floor. That means just vertically you would be shooting over 300 feet. It is of course a lot further than that by the time you are a couple hundred of feet from the Hotel. No way, anyone, would have hit anything they were aiming at. And, really? You want people shooting towards a Hotel full of occupied rooms? I know if I had been there, and I would have been armed. And, there is zero chance that I would have considered returning fire! If anything, this is an argument for gun carry. I promise you there were a lot of guns in that crowd, and not one was stupid enough to return fire from the ground.
“We need more gun laws” – I’m going to keep this section short because, well, I talk about it enough in general. Do we need more gun laws? It is already illegal to kill people. It is already illegal to use a deadly weapon against a person, to shoot near structures, etc… None of these laws stopped this guy. And so far it does not sound like mental health laws would have either, as so far there has been no indication of prior issues. No, what we need is gun laws that are effective. I am 100% in support of that.
“The MGM/Mandalay Bay is responsible … ” – Well, you can argue this one all day long. Who is really responsible? This piece of humanoid garbage who did this is. But, will MGM be held responsible in a Civil Action? Probably to some degree. There are already numerous suits filed. I am sure LVMPD and CCFD will also see the inside of a courtroom for liability trials. It is the way this all works, and has for years. As early as the 70’s we started bypassing holding the individual responsible, and started courting a legal system that goes after deep pockets, and big numbers. Right and wrong got lost along the way a long time ago.
There is a lot more about this topic that I could address, but, mostly I just feel sick to my stomach. The biggest chunk of that is because there is evil in this world, and they do things like this. But, a not insignificant part of my dismay, is because we the people, seem more hell bent on pointing fingers, wringing our hands, looking for conspiracies, and chasing compensation, than addressing the ills that are making this an increasing occurrence.
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