Let’s Have a Real Conversation About Solutions for Gun Violence

People are responding to the shooting in Las Vegas this week with understandable emotion and anger. But their outrage toward gun owners is misplaced – “gun control” will simply mean that powerful people and criminals have access to guns, not the average American.

While taking over for Glenn this week, Doc criticized the hypocrisy of gun control advocates who would never give up their own guns or armed guards.

“What they’re saying is they don’t want you to have a gun,” he said.

Doc listed some real solutions to fight gun violence and help every American.

  • Better mental health services available to more people
  • A freer, better economy
  • More guns in the right hands
  • Less government oppression and more opportunity
  • A society that values human life

Do you agree with his list?

This article provided courtesy of TheBlaze.

DOC: Doc Thompson in for Glenn. I'll be with you tomorrow, then Pat Gray will be pinch-hitting on Thursday and Friday as well.

Coming up immediately following this broadcast, on TheBlaze Radio Network, Pat Gray is going to be covering the Alex Jones video from yesterday.

KRIS: He connected the dots. I'm so glad Alex Jones is in our lives.

DOC: I cannot fully do it justice.

KRIS: No.

DOC: I didn't talk about it. I didn't discuss it this morning on our broadcast, on The Morning Blaze because I knew I couldn't do it justice like Pat Gray.

KRIS: Oh, he's so good at it.

DOC: Pat Gray has covered the crazy that is Alex Jones for a while. Even on this program, you know if you're a regular listener of this broadcast that Glenn and Pat and Stu and Jeffy have covered this quite a bit.

Alex offered up some insight to the shooting in Las Vegas.

KRIS: Brilliant.

DOC: And by brilliant, we mean.

KRIS: Amazing.

DOC: And by amazing, we mean crazy.

KRIS: Crazy.

(laughter)

DOC: Even for Alex Jones, this is like crazy. I'm telling you, I'm telling you, here's what's going on!

KRIS: Does it have to do with gay frogs?

DOC: No. But he throws out -- and I'm not going to spoil it for you. He connects a lot of dots --

KAL: It's all about the flicker rate!

(laughter)

DOC: He connects the dots and even brings in a dot that is not a dot, it's so far off the chart. But you're like, okay. All right. There we go.

Pat will cover that today. TheBlazeRadio.com for more information. All right. We'll get some calls. 888-727-BECK. 888-727-BECK. We'll also get to some tweets and some comments from the Facebook as well.

KRIS: Oh, sorry. Yeah. Fell asleep on that one. You have this one. This is interesting, Doc, because you've been very critical of the left.

DOC: I was like, when specifically -- you mean beginning in 1995?

KRIS: The last two hours.

DOC: Oh, yeah. That's true.

KRIS: Very critical. You're mocking them.

DOC: Have I been mocking them?

KRIS: Very mockfully.

DOC: Really? Really?

KRIS: Yes. Yes.

DOC: Okay.

KRIS: Ron brings a good question. And actually I support Ron right here.

DOC: Okay. Let me have it.

KRIS: I've heard a lot of mocking others for offering solutions.

DOC: Yes. Yes. And I'm glad you bring this up. Because we bring up solutions all the time.

KRIS: But none from you. See. You all about blah, blah, blah, blah. What about you?

DOC: Okay. Yes, I'm about the blah, blah, blah, blah. I don't appreciate the high-pitch blah, blah, blah, blah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.

KRIS: Yeah.

DOC: Yes, I have solutions to this thing. Are you talking about the shooting in Vegas?

KRIS: Yeah. What's the solution?

DOC: The mass murder. How do we keep that from happening?

KRIS: You have Vicente Fox, the former president of Mexico saying gun control.

DOC: Right.

KRIS: You got Jimmy saying, hey, we need to push more gun control.

DOC: Right.

KRIS: So what is your solution, Doc Thompson, go.

DOC: I will offer those solutions now. Let me first say, as far as gun control goes, the reason that is not a solution is because, first of all, when has gun control ever been inclusive of the government or the people in power? Chuck Schumer talks about gun control, and he owns a gun. Lots of these politicians talk about gun control. They own guns. Lots of the political left, the Hollywood, the limousine liberals out there, they talk about gun control. They own guns.

Many of them have security that own guns. They hire security forces with guns. So they're being hypocritical. What they're saying is they don't want you to have a gun.

Gun control has been used to keep you, the masses from having guns. The history of the world is one of oppression. That's the truth.

The history of the world is about some people having power. Now, they can set it up as a dictatorship, an oligarchy, a theocracy, any of these. They can even set it up as a seeming democracy or even a republic. That can happen as well. Because what happens -- well, even an oligarchy, those people in power, whether it's power through money, influence, or an outright dictatorship, theocracy or any of these, they still have access to guns. And they want access to keep you, the masses, from having them. That's the history of the world.

Part of the genius of America was that we would do the best to stave that off, to keep that from happening. And we have, for the most part. There are still those influential powers. Obviously, there's corrupt members of the government and some people that are powerful because of the money and influence they have.

But that's the reason I fight so hard for the Second Amendment and others. Is because as long as it's there, the playing field is level.

Gun control only controls the guns from some. And it's not just the criminals. Of course, the criminals are still going to have them. But also those people in power.

So my solutions, Kris Cruz and --

KRIS: I still don't hear any solutions. Ron.

DOC: -- other guy. Ron. Number one, as far as this guy is concerned and what happened in Vegas, better mental health screenings, better mental health services. And you know where we would get and have about right mental health services? In a redesigned health care system, where we would have access to more medicine. Where all people would have access to medicine because it would be cheap and it would be plentiful. And how do we get that? Less government, less rules, less regulation, and what we have never had when it comes to medicine in America, and that is a free market. The closest we've come is in the infancy of medicine in America, when a person could go to their family doctor out in the country and pay them in -- in a chicken or, you know, a couple dozen eggs or something like that. Or a couple of quarts of honey for fixing their kid. That's about the closest we've come.

A free market health care system would offer better mental health care services. It would be plentiful. It would be cheap.

What else would stop this from happening? A better economy. One of the reasons people go crazy and do these things, one of the trigger points is a bad economy. How do they radicalize people in the extreme -- extremist Muslim countries? How do they radicalize people in America? In the West to join their crazy exploits?

By telling them, how come you don't have more? You're just as good as everybody else. Join us. We'll make you strong. Look, you don't even have anything.

I mean, Kal, your family is from Egypt. The Middle East, a lot of poor people. A lot of poverty.

KAL: Yeah, primarily poor.

DOC: And because of that, a lack of education, a lack of money. People are easy to be preyed upon, to be radicalized, because they say, you don't have.

A better economy and better education through a better economy and less government rules and regulations and a free market, provides for more money and opportunity for people.

A secure border. How else have people attacked people in America? By bringing guns or bad people to America, when we don't know who they are or what they have.

Secure the border. What else would help? More guns! Yeah, sounds kind of counterintuitive. More guns likely wouldn't have happened -- or excuse me, wouldn't have helped with what happened on Sunday night in Las Vegas. Because the guy was in a room. More guns on the street from the average person probably wouldn't be able to stop him, but a lot of these other cases -- Adam Lanza. How about Cho at Virginia Tech? How about the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, with James Holmes? These were all gun-free zones. They were all gun-free zones.

There were no guns, except for the illegally gotten guns from those criminals who had nefarious intent.

More guns in those places would have at least given the opportunity for people to stop the rampage of those knuckleheads.

By the way, most casinos are gun-free zones. Not that he shot people in the casino. But he was in a hotel. Did it stop him from taking the gun in the hotel?

No. So more guns is something. What also helped? A less oppressive government. What do I mean by that?

I mean with a less oppressive government, I get to make more decisions for myself. I get to have more money and keep more money. To make my life and my family better. More education. More opportunity. And a government that will stop pissing me off by telling me how I'm supposed to raise my children and run my life. Because that is less of a trigger.

And finally, when it comes to some of this stuff, better police work. I'm not criticizing the cops. Cops do a pretty good job. But their hands are tied quite often because of police unions and the political left telling them that they're bad and they're just indiscriminately shooting people. Or even worse, purposefully shooting people and killing them because of their race. Better police work and more respect.

And finally, more appreciation for life. And we get that by recognizing our higher power and being more thankful of what we have. Human life is cheap in most parts of the world. Human life doesn't count for much. They don't value it. It just doesn't matter.

We've always valued it in America because we have that higher power and different covenants with God. We help each other.

The history of America is people getting together for barn buildings, to help their neighbor. In times of crisis, look at what happened with Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma and even now with Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, Americans help people. Americans help the world. America has saved the world countless time from bad guys.

So more faith and more appreciation for what we have. And a little more respect from our neighbors. These things will all stop some of this violence from happening. But you've got to remember one thing: Nothing will stop all of it. There will always be some bad.

We can tamp most of it down. We can get rid of most of it with the things I just mentioned. But there will always be some. And at those times, we have to fight against the natural knee-jerk reaction from a lot of the people we've discussed today on the air, to say, "Something must be done," as they wring their hands and call for more oppression.

Government oppression has led to more bad than guns. So when those rare cases under the system I just discussed, happen, we have to make sure we don't join with those people who are obviously upset, emotional because of the circumstances and say, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold it. Mourn. Be upset. Get the information. Get closure. All of that's therapy. That's fine. But stop right now, before you make a knee-jerk reaction, based on your emotions."

As long as the imminent threat is gone, hold it. Wait. Stop. We can discuss this. We can move ahead. Because most of what you want to do is a slippery slope that's going to bring about a lot more bad.

There's a story at TheBlaze.com. I have had my differences with Bill O'Reilly over the years. Seems like a nice guy. I think I met him one time. I don't agree with a lot of what Bill says. And I agree with some of what he says. But I've had differences. But one of the smartest things Bill has said is a story that's posted at TheBlaze.com. Bill O'Reilly said of this tragedy -- and I'm paraphrasing, but this is the price of freedom. Some bad will always happen in a free society. But good people will keep a lot of it from happening. And when it does, we'll make sure that there are the best circumstances in that bad.

This is the price for freedom. If you're willing to give up some freedom because of some bad, you will end up with neither safety and security, nor freedom. To paraphrase Ben Franklin. Back in a minute with more on the Glenn Beck Program.

What do clay pots have to do with to preserving American history?

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Editor's note: This article was originally published on TheBlaze.com.

Why should we preserve our nation’s history? If you listen to my radio program and podcast, or read my columns and books, you know I’ve dedicated a large part of my life and finances to sourcing and preserving priceless artifacts that tell America’s story. I’ve tried to make these artifacts as available as possible through the American Journey Experience Museum, just across from the studios where I do my daily radio broadcast. Thousands of you have come through the museum and have been able to see and experience these artifacts that are a part of your legacy as an American.

The destruction of American texts has already begun.

But why should people like you and me be concerned about preserving these things from our nation's history? Isn’t that what the “big guys” like the National Archives are for?

I first felt a prompting to preserve our nation's history back in 2008, and it all started with clay pots and the Dead Sea Scrolls. In 1946, a Bedouin shepherd in what is now the West Bank threw a rock into a cave nestled into the side of a cliff near the Dead Sea. Instead of hearing an echo, he heard the curious sound of a clay pot shattering. He discovered more than 15,000 Masoretic texts from the third century B.C. to the first century A.D.

These texts weren’t just a priceless historical discovery. They were virtually perfect copies of the same Jewish texts that continue to be translated today. Consider the significance of that discovery. Since the third century B.C. when these texts were first written, the Jewish people have endured a continued onslaught of diasporas, persecutions, pressures to conform to their occupying power, the destruction of their temple, and so much more. They had to fight for their identity as a people for centuries, and finally, a year after the end of the Holocaust and a year before the founding of the nation of Israel, these texts were discovered, confirming the preservation and endurance of their heritage since ancient times — all due to someone putting these clay pots in a desert cave more than 2,000 years ago.

I first felt a prompting to preserve our nation's history back in 2008, and it all started with clay pots and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

So, what do these clay pots have to do with the calling to preserve American history? I didn’t understand that prompting myself until the horrible thought dawned on me that the people we are fighting against may very well take our sacred American scriptures, our Declaration of Independence, and our Bill of Rights. What if they are successful, and 1,000 years from now, we have no texts preserved to confirm our national identity? What kind of new history would be written over the truth?

The destruction of American texts has already begun. The National Archives has labeled some of our critical documents, like our Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights, as “triggering” or “containing harmful language.” In a public statement, the National Archives said that the labels help prepare readers to view potentially distressing content:

The Catalog and web pages contain some content that may be harmful or difficult to view. NARA’s records span the history of the United States, and it is our charge to preserve and make available these historical records. As a result, some of the materials presented here may reflect outdated, biased, offensive, and possibly violent views and opinions. In addition, some of the materials may relate to violent or graphic events and are preserved for their historical significance.

According to this statement, our founding documents are either “outdated, biased, offensive,” “possibly violent,” or a combination of these scathing descriptions. I’m sorry, the Declaration of Independence is not “triggering.” Our Constitution is not “outdated and biased,” and our Bill of Rights certainly is not “offensive and possibly violent.” They are glorious documents. They should be celebrated, not qualified by such derogatory, absurd language. Shame on them.

These are only the beginning stages of rewriting our history. What if they start banning these “triggering” documents from public view because they might offend somebody? Haven’t we torn down “triggering” statues before? What if we are no longer able to see, read, and study the actual words of our nation's founding documents because they are “harmful” or “possibly violent”? A thousand years from now, will there be any remnant to piece together the true spirit behind the nation that our founders envisioned?

The Declaration of Independence is not “triggering.”

That is why in 2008, I was prompted to preserve what I could. Now, the American Journey Experience Museum includes more than 160,000 artifacts, from founding-era documents to the original Roe v. Wade court papers. We need to preserve the totality of our nation’s heritage, the good, the bad, and the ugly. We need to preserve our history in our own clay pots.

I ask you to join with me on this mission. Start buying books that are important to preserve. Buy some acid-free paper and start printing some of the founding documents, the reports that go against the mainstream narrative, the studies that prove what is true as we are continually being fed lies. Start preserving our daily history as well as our history because it is being rewritten and digitized.

Somebody must have a copy of what is happening now and what has happened in the past. I hope things don’t get really bad. But if they do, we need to preserve our heritage. Perhaps, someone 1,000 years from now will discover our clay pots and, Lord willing, be able to have a glimpse of America as it truly was.

Top 10 WORST items in the new $1.2 TRILLION spending bill

Kevin Dietsch / Staff | Getty Images

Biden just signed the newest spending bill into law, and Glenn is furious.

Under Speaker Johnson's leadership, the whopping $1.2 TRILLION package will use your taxpayer dollars to fund the government through September. Of course, the bill is loaded with earmarks and pork that diverts money to fund all sorts of absurd side projects.

Here is the list of the ten WORST uses of taxpayer money in the recently passed spending bill:

Funding venues to host drag shows, including ones that target children

David McNew / Contributor | Getty Images

Money for transgender underwear for kids

Funding for proms for 12 to 18 year old kids

Bethany Clarke / Stringer | Getty Images

Border security funding... for Jordan and Egypt

Another $300 million for Ukraine

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

$3.5 million for Detroit's annual Thanksgiving Day parade

Icon Sportswire / Contributor | Getty Images

$2.5 million for a new kayaking facility in Franklin, New Hampshire

Acey Harper / Contributor | Getty Images

$2.7 million for a bike park in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia, a town with a population of less than 2,300 people

$5 million for a new trail at Coastal Carolina University

$4 million the "Alaska King Crab Enhancement Project" (whatever that means)

FRED TANNEAU / Stringer | Getty Images

There is no doubt about it—we are entering dark times.

The November presidential election is only a few months away, and following the chaos of the 2020 election, the American people are bracing for what is likely to be another tumultuous election year. The left's anti-Trump rhetoric is reaching an all-time high with the most recent "Bloodbath" debacle proving how far the media will go to smear the former president. That's not to mention the Democrats' nearly four-year-long authoritarian attempt to jail President Trump or stop his re-election by any means necessary, even if it flies in the face of the Constitution.

Meanwhile, Biden is doing worse than ever. He reportedly threw a tantrum recently after being informed that his polls have reached an all-time low. After Special Counsel Robert Hur's report expressed concerns over Biden's obviously failing mental agility, it's getting harder for the Democrats to defend him. Yet he is still the Democratic nominee for November, promising another 4 years of catastrophic policies, from the border to heavy-handed taxation, should he be reelected.

The rest of the world isn't doing much better. The war in Ukraine has no clear end in sight, drawing NATO and Russia closer and closer to conflict. The war in Gaza is showing no sign of slowing down, and as Glenn revealed recently, its continuation may be a sign that the end times are near.

One thing is clear: we are living in uncertain times. If you and your family haven't prepared for the worst, now is the time. You can start by downloading "Glenn's Ultimate Guide to Getting Prepared." Be sure to print off a copy or two. If the recent cell outage proved anything, it's that technology is unreliable in survival situations. You can check your list of supplies against our "Ultimate Prepper Checklist for Beginners," which you can find below:

Food

  • Canned food/non-perishable foods
  • Food preparation tools
  • Go to the next level: garden/livestock/food production

Water

  • Non-perishable water store
  • Water purification
  • Independent water source

Shelter

  • Fireplace with a wood supply
  • Tent
  • Generator with fuel supply
  • Go to the next level: fallout shelter

Money

  • Emergency cash savings
  • Precious metals

Medicine

  • Extra blankets
  • Basic first aid
  • Extra prescriptions
  • Extra glasses
  • Toiletries store
  • Trauma kit
  • Antibiotics
  • Basic surgery supplies
  • Potassium Iodate tablets

Transportation

  • Bicycle
  • Car
  • Extra fuel

Information

  • Birth certificates
  • Insurance cards
  • Marriage license
  • Immunization records
  • Mortgage paperwork
  • Car title and registration
  • House keys, car keys
  • Passports
  • Family emergency plan
  • Prepping/survival/repair manuals
  • Go to the next level: copy of the Bible, the U.S. Constitution, and other important books/sources

Skills

  • Cooking
  • Gardening
  • Sewing
  • First Aid
  • Basic maintenance skills
  • Go to the next level: farming/ranching
  • Self-defense training

Communication

  • Family contact information and addresses
  • HAM radio

Miscellaneous

  • Flashlights and batteries
  • Lamps and fuel
  • Hardware (tools, nails, lumber, etc)
  • Extra clothes
  • Extreme weather clothes and gear
  • Gas masks and filters
  • Spare parts for any machinery/equipment

Is Trump's prosecution NORMAL?  This COMPLETE list of ALL Western leaders who served jail time proves otherwise.

PhotoQuest / Contributor, The Washington Post / Contributor, Win McNamee / Staff | Getty Images

Mainstream media is on a crusade to normalize Donald Trump's indictments as if it's on par with the electoral course. Glenn asked his team to research every instance of a Western leader who was jailed during their political career over the past 200 years—except extreme political turmoil like the French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, Irish Revolution, etc.—and what we discovered was quite the opposite.

Imprisoning a leader or major political opponent is not normal, neither in the U.S. nor in the Western world. Within the last 200 years, there are only a handful of examples of leaders in the West serving jail time, and these men were not imprisoned under normal conditions. All of these men were jailed under extreme circumstances during times of great peril such as the Civil War, World War II, and the Cold War.

What does this mean for America? Are Trump's indictments evidence that we are re-entering times of great peril? Below is a list of Western leaders who were imprisoned within the last 200 years. Take a look and decide for yourself:

Late 1800s

The Washington Post / Contributor | Getty Images

Jefferson Davis: The nearest occurrence to a U.S. President to serve jail time was in the case of Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederate States of America. Jefferson was captured in Georgia by Northern Soldiers in 1865 and locked up in Fort Monroe, Virginia for two years. He was offered a presidential pardon but refused out of his loyalty to the confederacy.

Early 1900s

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Eugene V. Debs: Debbs, a Midwestern socialist leader, became the first person to run for president in prison. He was locked up at a federal penitentiary in Atlanta having been convicted under the federal Sedition Act for giving an antiwar speech a few months before Armistice Day, the end of World War I. Many of his supporters believed his imprisonment to be unjust. Debs received 897,704 votes and was a distant third-part candidate behind Warren G. Harding, the Republican winner, and James M. Cox, the second-place Democrat. Harding ordered Debs’s release from prison toward the end of 1921.

Nazi sympathizers and collaborators: After the end of World War II in 1945, several European leaders who had "led" their countries during the Nazi occupation faced trial and imprisonment for treason. This list included Chief of the French State Philippe Pétain, French Prime Minister Pierre Laval, and Minister-President of Norway Vidkun Quisling. The latter two were also executed after their imprisonment. President of Finland Risto Ryti and Prime Minister of Finland Johan Wilhelm Rangell were also tried and jailed for collaborating with the Nazis against the Allied Powers.

Late 1900s

The Washington Post / Contributor | Getty Images

The end of the Cold War: The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was one of the pivotal moments that brought the Cold War to a close and marked the end of Communist East Germany. With the fall of the wall and the collapse of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), the former leaders were brought to trial to answer for the crimes committed by the GDR. General Secretary Erich Honecker and General Secretary Egon Krenz were both put on trial for abuse of power and the deaths of those who were shot trying to flee into West Germany. Honecker was charged with jail time but was released from custody due to severe illness and lived out the rest of his life as an exile in Chile. Krenz served 4 years in jail before his release in 2001. He is one of the last surviving leaders of the Eastern Bloc.

Lyndon LaRouche: Larouche was a Trotsky evangelist, public antisemite, and founder of a nationwide Marxist political movement, became the second person in U.S. history to run for President in a prison cell. Granted, he ran in every election from 1976 to 2004 as a long-shot third-party candidate. When he tried to gain the Democratic presidential nomination, he received 5 percent of the total nationwide vote. Even though in 2000 he received enough primary votes to qualify for delegates in a few states, the Democratic National Committee refused to seat his delegates and barred LaRouche from attending the Democratic National Convention.