A recent tragedy at Greenwood Park Mall in Indiana could have been MUCH worse if an armed, Good Samaritan wasn’t there to end the chaos before more lives were lost. Jimmy Carter first used the phrase ‘first responder’ to describe EMTs, police officers, firefighters, and others. But in reality, Glenn reminds us, ordinary Americans — the ones already on the scene of a crime before 911 is ever dialed — are the TRUE first responders. It’s a lesson Glenn says he learned well after receiving terrifying phone calls while working in New York. He shares that story, PLUS he explains why the elite WANT us to rely on them for help…even when we don’t have to: ‘YOU are the master of your own destiny.’
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Four people were killed, and two were wounded at a mass shootings, at a shopping mall, just south of Indianapolis, just Sunday. Yesterday.
It ended with only four. The guy had several hundred bullets. And was ready to fire them. He went into a food court, in the green -- in the Greenwood Park Mall, in Greenwood, Indiana. It's about 6 o'clock. Police get a call. There's an active shooter. People started to tweet and send messages, and call for help. Sounds of gunshots. It was happening right at the food court. The guy walks in. And he takes out a rifle. And several magazines of ammunition. And begins firing at the people. There were two wounded, 12-year-old girl with a minor injury. Police said that she and other wounded individuals are transported to the hospital. And in stable condition. He fired 30 shots. He killed three. And before he could do anything else, there was a guy in the mall, not a cop. Not anything. Just a guy with a gun. And he shot him and killed him. Four dead, including the shooter. And they say that people with guns, don't help. See, this is -- this is something that we have been convinced by a really bad president. A progressive. Jimmy Carter.
Jimmy Carter is the -- is the reason our cops and fire department are called first responders.
It was never like that. You were the first responder. You -- in fact, in some places, in our founding era. If you walked into a town, and you didn't have a gun, you were issued a gun.
And you were issued a gun, because it was everyone's responsibility to keep the peace. If you were a homeowner, and you had a gun, somebody broke into your house, did something. Leaves. Goes to the next house. If you hadn't tried to stop that person, and use your gun and hunted that guy down, you would be held responsible for the next house that he robbed. Because we knew, the people that are actually experiencing it, are the closest to the problem. And if they act, they can actually stop others. But now, after Jimmy Carter, we're told, wait for the first responders. That's ridiculous. That is the -- that's the reason -- this is the underlying reason, I think, that is -- has infected America, and is killing us. You're not smart enough to be involved with your child's education. Leave it to the experts, okay? They're the first responders. They're the first teachers. Not you. No. Excuse me. I am my child's teacher. The teachers at school, assist me while I'm at work. That's the way it always was and needs to be again. But that requires all of us to take responsibility.
You know, I had a death threat. My first real death threat came from a Palestinian supporter. And I was talking about Israel. And I was talking about, you know, some of the things that were happening with Palestinians. And Jews.
And this guy calls up. And he talks to my producer. And he says, Glenn Beck is lying about Palestinians. We're good people.
And he -- he says that we're -- you know, we're all bad. None of which I said. And he keeps saying, that, you know, we behead people. And he's got to stop saying it. And if he doesn't stop saying it, I'll behead him myself.
The producer was sharp enough. It was Stu. Put him on hold. Called the FBI or the police. The police called the FBI. But I had to protect my family. And that night, they said, go home. And close all the drapes. And you have a gun.
Said, no. I don't own a gun. And I didn't own a gun because I didn't think I was responsible enough to own a gun. I hadn't done any training or anything else. And I thought, I'll just get myself shot. You know, I'll probably end up shooting myself, doing something stupid, because I didn't know anything at all about guns.
And the FBI said, if you can't get out tonight, and it was very late. You need to do the show from another state, and never tell anybody. And you could be on the road for at least a month, before this blows over.
So my wife and I talked a lot. We were like, okay. This is what our life is going to be like, huh?
And neither of us wanted to get a gun. And so we got a dog, instead. That was the next best option. But then I trained myself. And I went through training. And I fire my gun an awful lot. The thing that is making it hard for me to help others, and will put me in a situation, to where I don't feel comfortable with my gun, is the cost of the ammunition.
Which this administration is intentionally driving up.
That only hurts law-abiding citizens. Not because you go broke from ammunition. It's because, you can't fire ammunition like we used to fire ammunition. I didn't even think about bullets. Now every time I at a range. Every time I fire that gun, I think about what it's costing in ammunition. And how hard it is to get a replacement. So I don't want to shoot it all the time.
That's extraordinarily dangerous. Especially in a world, that doesn't manage itself.
Remember, we are a society, that our system of government, is -- Founders said, wholly inadequate for a -- for a group of people, that are not religious and moral.
I don't think you have to be religious. But I do think you have to believe in some sort of higher power. Something that regulates you.
You know, that's -- this was the argument between Thomas Paine and Ben Franklin. Thomas Paine didn't believe in the trinity. He didn't believe in church. He believed in God. He just didn't believe in religion. And he didn't believe in, you know, three in one.
And so he came out, and when he wrote his book, that many atheists claimed that he is an atheist because of this book, that's what the Founders said too. And Ben Franklin was like his dad. And he wrote to Ben Franklin. And said, you know, I'm getting all kinds of heat for this. And Ben Franklin chewed him out. Said, of course, you are.
How dare you. How dare you dismiss religion. It may not be good for you, but the only reason we have America today, is because of good religious people, that interpreted the Bible, the way it's supposed to be interpreted. You're benefiting from all of those people that self-regulate. So easy few now to say, oh, well, we don't need religion. What happens when religion is gone, and God is dead? We're beginning to see what happens.
People don't self-regulate. They do whatever they want. They're being told, there's really no reason for your existence. You don't count.
You'll never get past, you know, your obstacles, because they're all because of things that happened long ago. And it's these people, who have caused these problems, even though they didn't do it themselves. It's their relatives that did it, long ago.
Of course, we're going to have shootings. And who is going to stop them?
The police? As we found out in Uvalde, 400 officers were there. Lack of leadership.
Now, I -- I know that some went in, and were rescuing kids by breaking the windows and just pulling them out of the classes. But none of them actually went to the door and took matters into their own hands? They were all waiting for someone else.
America, stop waiting. Stop waiting for someone else. By the way, another story, 26-year-old man allegedly held a knife to a gas station clerk's neck in St. Charles, Missouri. This happened on Saturday. So this guy comes in. And he takes out a knife.
And he announces a robbery. Then he puts the knife to the clerk's throat and demands money from the cash register. At one point, during the incident, a customer who had just left the store was walking by. And he looks in, as he gets into his car. He looks in, and he sees this guy with a knife up against this clerk's throat. And he was dragging the clerk, and she was screaming. So he goes into his glove box, and he grabs his gun. And he confronted the guy who had the knife.
And the suspect then -- he was holding a backpack in his outstretched arms, and he said, I've got something for you. Don't know what that meant. But he didn't know that the guy had a gun. He shot him in the throat, killed him, end of story.
Why don't we celebrate these people? Why aren't these the people that we're hearing about? Instead of just the bad guys. And then they leave out the part of how it was solved.
Because those people who have power, don't want you to recognize the power that you already have. They need you to be beholden to them.
They need you to need them.
Don't.
You are the master of your own destiny.