In this engaging episode of Rush to Reason, host John Rush welcomes Larry Behrens, the Director at Power of the Future, for an insightful discussion on current energy policies and the impact of political leadership. They delve into President Joe Biden’s recent actions concerning offshore drilling and the ramifications for consumers and future administrations. Behrens sheds light on how these policies create challenges for working families while setting potential traps for Donald Trump as he prepares for a potential return to office. Tune in for a compelling exploration of how energy policies shape our daily lives and the economy.
SPEAKER 14 :
This is Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 07 :
You are going to shut your damn yapper and listen for a change because I got you pegged, sweetheart. You want to take the easy way out because you’re scared. And you’re scared because if you try and fail, there’s only you to blame. Let me break this down for you. Life is scary. Get used to it. There are no magical fixes.
SPEAKER 19 :
With your host, John Rush.
SPEAKER 07 :
My advice to you is to do what your parents did.
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Get a job, Turk. You haven’t made everybody equal. You’ve made them the same and there’s a big difference.
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Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life. That there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there. It is this feeling that has brought you to me.
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Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 18 :
It’s Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush. Presented by High Five Plumbing, Heating, Cooling, and Electric, where every call ends with a high five.
SPEAKER 16 :
All right, we are back. Hour three, Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Larry Behrens joining us now. Larry, welcome back. How are you, sir?
SPEAKER 05 :
I’m great, John. So great to talk with you.
SPEAKER 16 :
Always a joy. Director of Power. Director at, I should say, Power of the Future. Had you on many, many times in the past. Okay, before we get started, I want to talk about Joe Biden and his last little stint that he has gotten in before leaving office and sort of leaving Trump in a rough spot in regards to offshore drilling.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, absolutely. I think it fits two purposes. One, it lets us know who Joe Biden has always really favored, and it’s not been working families, right? He has no political price in any direction, and so he’s really going to help out his friends, except it doesn’t really help out the American families that are struggling to pay the bills. But secondly, and probably most importantly for Joe Biden, it lays policy landmines for Donald Trump. Joe Biden knows that his failed energy policies caused gas prices to go up and that it became a political liability. So he is trying to make sure that Donald Trump faces the same thing so that six months from now, 12 months from now, the Democrats can be all over TV saying, oh, we thought Donald Trump was going to lower gas prices. Looks like he didn’t. Well, it’s because Joe Biden’s taking stuff off the map to be able to produce energy.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, and I’ve read all sorts of things on this, Larry, where there’s those that are out there talking about how the majority of oil comes from private leases, not necessarily federal leases, although it shouldn’t be that way. We have plenty of opportunity to give federal leases out and start capturing some money back in for the American taxpayer. Again, it begs the question, why aren’t we?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, and that’s just the Biden administration and their defenders talking out both ends of their mouth, right? If it was such a small dent and it was mostly private land, then why do they order it all? Yeah, why would it matter? Yeah, they won’t say it was such a big deal for the climate. No, it’s a massive deal because it takes millions of acres worldwide. off the table for production in an area that the United States needs to get more production from. You know, the Biden administration, I think it was about a year ago, bragged that they were having the fewest leases, not in the 12 months, not in 12 years, but in history on offshore. And so this is Joe Biden trying to force feed his legacy on his way out the door.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, no, Larry, you are a thousand percent correct. I’ve said it numerous times, even with you on, that every administration, the Biden administration especially, if they really wanted to relieve pressure at the pump, they would get rid of the multiple blends of gasoline. We have coast to coast. I think there’s about 24 now. You could get down to probably four pretty easily. I mean, there’s so many basic things that a president could do. to literally lower gas prices at the pump, which, by the way, Trump has that ability as well. And if he’s smart and has some good advisors around him, he’ll listen to some of those things because you could literally overnight lower gas prices despite, I should say, in spite of what Joe Biden just did.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, absolutely. And I think you get onto a great point there. The one is, and I hope President Trump considers this, is you can just take away the federal gas tax. Now, I know Congress is the one that takes that away, but you could say we’re not going to force it and immediately drop the price of gas everywhere about 17 cents a gallon. right away. And that would be helpful for Americans right now, because Joe Biden loves saying, oh, look at what I’ve done with inflation. I’ve done such a good job. Anybody who is still like me, addicted to the grocery store and addicted to heat during the winter understands that it’s hard still to pay bills in this country. Even Hakeem Jeffries admits that America is too expensive. Glad he can finally admit it now. And so there are actions that President Trump could be taking right out the gate.
SPEAKER 16 :
What are some of the things that he could do, you know, day one? And I believe there’ll be lots of executive orders on the 21st of January. Now, there’ll be some things that probably will be challenged and will be able to do some of the things that he would like, even regards to the topic you and I are talking about. Seems like Joe Biden’s making that a little bit more difficult, and that one will probably be a fight when it’s all said and done. But to your point, there’s other things he could do. Gas tax, my idea of going to four blends of, especially during the winter months, by the way, going to four blends of fuel in the winter months especially would overnight lower the price of fuel. What other things could he do?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, absolutely. And let’s be clear, because you’re exactly right, John. Probably the most lucrative job right now is going to be a green lawyer, because they’re all just geared up for President Trump to come in to continue to do Joe Biden’s bidding. But to answer your question more directly, first of all, we know he’s going to overturn Biden’s executive actions. Joe Biden has done so much stuff through executive order, so he’s going to be able to overturn that. But I think he should be taking it a step further. He should be declaring an energy emergency. We see continuous instability across the globe. We see continued struggle for prices here at home. He needs to be able to move regulations aside in order to get drilling done. And declaring an emergency for energy can get that done. And I’m not talking about just drilling, which is going to be beneficial. I’m talking about waiving permitting for new refineries because we need more refineries in the United States. Waiving permitting for more pipelines. We can do a whole lot of that and then start to attack Joe Biden’s – I call it the army of bureaucracy, what he has done to try to put the Green New Deal into the back door, getting rid of the EV mandate, for one.
SPEAKER 16 :
So here’s a question that I don’t know this answer to, Larry, and you’re much smarter at this than I am. If he declared some sort of an energy emergency – Does it give him the ability to, you know, quote unquote, sort of bypass some of these other things that typically presidents have to go through with Congress and Senate to get certain things done? In other words, would he be able to green light things faster if he did that?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes. And we have two very recent examples of that. One is the last time President Trump was in office during COVID. People remember he did declare emergency, but he did use the Defense Production Act that says I can take over manufacturing in order to produce something the country needs right away. And he used that for ventilators during COVID. Joe Biden also used it as well. You know what Joe Biden used it for? He used it for solar panels. And how well has that worked out? Not very well. And so, yeah, the president does have this legal power to say this is an emergency situation. I’m taking it over. And our manufacturing capacity can go towards this product. And then, of course, he can also, too, begin day one refilling the Strategic Control Reserve. That is something the United States needs. And Joe Biden drained more than any other president.
SPEAKER 16 :
OK. On top of that. Another, and this is something you and I talked about all, well, literally probably four years ago because the day Joe Biden took over, he killed the Keystone Pipeline. I get it. The Keystone Pipeline wasn’t carrying any oil at that point in time, but it sent a very large message to the petroleum industry that, hey, we mean business and we’re not your friend anymore like Donald Trump and the Trump administration was. Would it behoove Donald Trump to reinstitute that?
SPEAKER 05 :
It would. And let me tell you why. And your point is exactly the right one. Let’s remember the moving goalpost of lies from the Biden administration where they canceled it and then prices went up and they said, well, it didn’t matter because it wouldn’t be done by now. And the prices stayed up past the time it would have been done. And then they started to be quiet about that. So Keystone Pipeline may be gone. But the larger issue is when you are building a pipeline, that is sometimes a multi-decade project. So if you are going to move permitting and say, I’m going to take this thing that usually takes 10 years and try to get it down to four.
SPEAKER 16 :
Fast track it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, that is heavy incentive to get it done now. Because, you know, sadly, after President Trump’s done in office, we don’t know what’s going to happen. And we need this permanent infrastructure as soon as possible.
SPEAKER 16 :
It’ll be very interesting, and I’ll have you on once we get past that probably one- to two-week mark and kind of figure out what Donald Trump actually does. I personally think, and I want to get your opinion on this, that he’s coming into office this time much more wise, understanding those around him who should even advise him in the first place. I think he’s going to be a lot more strategic in some of these things day one than he was last time. Your thoughts?
SPEAKER 05 :
I 100% agree. And that’s why I was so heartened to see him on Capitol Hill yesterday talking with the Senate. I know they’re already talking about a bill. He said it. Now he’s saying, I don’t know if it’s going to be one bill or several bills, but they’re already talking about the content of it. And everyone’s asking, well, what’s in it? What’s in it? And he’s saying, what do you think I’ve been promising the last year plus I’ve been running for president? It’s those things, things about the board, things about energy. It’s a whole lot of things. And so being able to get that done in Congress… And no joke within the first hundred days, it’s not a symbolic first hundred days anymore as it used to be. It is it has to be done because the Democrats are going to sue. They’re going to try to distract and delay. And sadly, after the first two years of his administration, he’s going to be facing midterms again. And Congress just doesn’t really get stuff done that quickly.
SPEAKER 16 :
So he’s got to get on it right off the bat, to your point.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yep. OK, you’re from Power of the Future. Talk to me about the EV. And you and I’ve had long conversations. We did a show one day, a whole hour on EVs way back in the day when, again, the Biden administration came in and made some of these mandates happen. Given that some of these are tied to the infrastructure bill or the infrastructure law that was passed, which it’s an inflation law, not an infrastructure law that was passed. But bottom line. What can Donald Trump do on the EV sides of things without going back through Congress to readjust that law?
SPEAKER 05 :
And so without going through – so on the EV side, those mandates were through executive order. So he can just take those away, those mandates that say it has to be – So that was not part of the infrastructure bill?
SPEAKER 16 :
No.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. But the sad part, to your point, that was part of the infrastructure bill and the laughably named Inflation Reduction Act was the billions that went to building the infrastructure for it. So when we spent – Which nothing’s been done yet, as you know. Right, but we’ve spent the money, right? And so that is actually going to be one of the hardest parts. I wish I could say Donald Trump should turn off the money faucet right away, but the Biden administration today, as we speak, is sending out billions of dollars out the door. They’re getting the United States government signed onto contracts that if that money does not pay out, that then the United States government gets sued. I think Donald Trump should seriously consider… not paying out those money to failing EV companies if they can’t stand on their own, and then just take the lawsuit. Because it’s going to save taxpayers money in the long run. But that is a harder one to crack.
SPEAKER 16 :
Okay, good to know. As always, Larry, you’re always a wealth of information. You know far more about this than I do. Talk to us really quick about Power of the Future and how folks can learn from you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Sure. We’d love for folks to head over to the website, PowerOfTheFuture.com. You can even send me an email if you love or hate what I said today, Larry at PowerOfTheFuture.com. We’re a 501c4 nonprofit that advocates for American energy. It’s that simple. And I appreciate you, John, so much.
SPEAKER 16 :
Always, Larry. I appreciate it. And again, we’ll have you back after the inauguration and see what Trump does right out of the gate.
SPEAKER 05 :
Sounds good. Thanks, Larry.
SPEAKER 16 :
Appreciate you very much. Again, power of the future, folks. That is Larry Behrens. We’ve had him on quite a bit in the past. I will say that it’s been probably a couple of months since we’ve had him on, and it’s just because we had a lot of other election things and all of that going on prior. But Larry’s a great guy. I love talking to him. I’ve had one particular show in the past where we spent an entire hour all the way back when – Joe Biden came into office. We talked about the whole EV thing and all of that. So we got an entire hour back in the archives somewhere where Larry and I spent an entire hour talking about that. So good guy. Follow him, if you would, at Power of the Future. Geno’s Auto Service coming up next. Speaking of vehicles, EVs and all of that, no matter what you drive, Geno’s is there to take care of you. And they’ve got some great specials going on right now through the month of January. 303-794-6700 or genosautoservice.com. And Geno starts with a J.
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SPEAKER 10 :
This is Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 16 :
All right, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Senate Bill 3. So, yes, things are back in session here in Colorado, and you’re going to see all sorts of Democrat bills pushed through. Whether they end up on the governor’s desk or not, hard to say. As I said in the last hour, despite what anybody tells you, despite what the Colorado GOP will tell you. We have a huge disadvantage. Huge disadvantage. No, the Democrats don’t have a super majority. But enough of a majority where, you know, it’s going to be really hard for us to stop anything going through. And I’m not trying to be a naysayer, not trying to discourage any of you that are actually legislatures down at the Capitol. You know, do your job, do what you can, fight as hard as you can. I get all of that. Unfortunately, you’re really at a disadvantage here. And frankly, due in part to the Colorado GOP. But you are at a huge disadvantage because there’s far too many Democrats in office than you. So when we talk about things like this, Senate Bill 3, which would outlaw the sale, manufacture, of semi-automatic guns that accept detachable magazines, they would be banned under this bill. It also would outlaw rapid-fire trigger activators and bump stocks. Now, keep in mind that, as I’ve said before, why we don’t have a bill – And you’re only allowed to run so many bills. You sign on to so many bills. And I can’t remember, is it two or four, Charlie? I can’t remember what it is. I think it’s two. Don’t quote me on that, but I think it’s two each. On your own. Now, you can co-sponsor that, but on your own, too. The one I would introduce, if I were a legislature, and why in the world we haven’t done this as a party, because this is one I think you could get maybe even some of the other side to sign on to because it’s a cost-saving measure. I would put a bill in that would create a law That if a law is going to be enacted that is unconstitutional, that you know for a fact will be shot down through the legal system, that bill is not allowed to move forward. I would run that bill. Now, whether I would win on that or not, I have no idea. But if I was going to run any bills as a senator or a representative here in Colorado, that would be the one, the first one I would jump on. Second one would be get rid of the stupid front license plate. But that’s a whole other conversation. My first one would be introducing a bill that would not allow bills to even go through that are 1,000% unconstitutional. For example, Senate Bill 3, it’s unconstitutional. Even if this passes, and it’s likely it will, this will get shot down in the courts. And my point with that is, as taxpayers, we have to pay to defend this. There’ll be lawsuits filed. you know, lobbied against it, which they should be. I’m not saying there shouldn’t, there should be. But as taxpayers, we’re now on the hook to defend those. And it’s a waste of money. It’s a waste of time, resources, money. There’s other things that we could focus on. And I get it. That’s not what lawmakers do. And they really don’t care about all the things that I just talked about, but they should. And again, if I were a legislature, I would force them to care through my own bill that I would hope would become law that would not allow them to put these things through. Because this one especially, especially the bump stock end of this, that’s already been ruled on by the Supreme Court. That one’s already gone through. You can’t do this. So this one is very apparent. I don’t even have to be a legal scholar. I don’t have to be an attorney to understand this one is not legal. But yeah, they’re going to run it through anyways. And lots of bills from the Democrats do. And they get shoved through. And then the other side, our side, you know, sues them over it. And then it ends up going to court. And it’ll go through all of the channels. And sometimes it takes years before things get finally, you know, fought out and determined who’s going to win or not. But all the while, we as taxpayers are defending those. And it’s a waste of money. So Governor Polis, I know you don’t listen to me. I should say Emperor Polis. His excellence. Is that what I should say, Charlie? His excellence, Polis. If you’re listening or somebody is listening that can pass this on, you’re running a budget shortfall this year. You’re already trying to figure out how to make ends meet in Colorado. Why don’t you send a message to your own party, stop running stupid measures like this? Stop running things that we will end up spending money on to defend even if it passes. Now, granted, you yourself could not sign this. and eliminate it that way. But why don’t you send a message to your party to do things that really matter versus focusing on things like this that will end up getting shot down in the Supreme Court anyways. So Senate Bill 3. would again ban the purchase sale and manufacture semi-automatic guns that accept detachable ammunition magazines uh… that is a bill that was introduced yesterday by democrats on the first day of session it would affect many pistols rifles whose manufacturers don’t appear to make versions of the weapons without removable magazines the legislation would also outlaw rapid-fire trigger activators, as I said a moment ago, and bump stocks. The measure would have an effect similar to or even greater than legislation that failed at the Capitol in recent years that would have banned the purchase, sale, and manufacture of a broad swath of firearms defined in those bills as assault weapons. So they’re basically reintroducing the assault weapon ban, only this one’s larger, folks. Now, I rarely, if ever, unless I’m reading something, use the term assault weapon. I’m a gun guy. There’s no such thing. Well, let me rephrase that. There’s many such things, including things that aren’t guns. You can be assaulted with a baseball bat. You can be assaulted with a ruler. You can be assaulted with some brass knuckles. You can be assaulted with you name it. I carry around a fairly hefty water bottle, large Yeti, that I actually have a little strap on that if I really wanted to defend myself, I could swing that thing around and probably knock somebody out cold. That is an assault weapon. So I try my best to not use that term because it gets thrown around loosely from the left, and it’s an incorrect term. They try to make anything that is big, black, and has a detachable magazine to be ugly and bad, and you should never own that. Of course, the left would just have you not own any gun, by the way. That’s ultimately where they’re after. See, what the left does that we don’t do a very good job at is they chip away at things. You know, they’ll take a little piece and they’ll claim success. And they’ll take a little piece and claim success. And they’ll take a little piece and claim success. And before you know it, they got the whole enchilada. We, on the other hand, we want the whole enchilada and we’re not willing to take small bites. Our mentality, our principles, which I’m glad we have them, but our principles get in the way of taking small bites. We’re that glutton at the table that needs the whole enchilada at one time. We can’t take little bites at each meal and do that over and over again. We’re that, sorry to say it, fat guy at the table that has to eat the whole thing at once. Those are our principles. Because we’re not willing to give in on anything. And as I’ve read through all sorts of things on social media, and yes, while I was gone, Andy had a couple of individuals on, Eli Bremer and Todd Watkins. And I read all of the things that all of you nutjobs, and yes, that’s what I’m going to call you, all of you crazy nutjobs out there talked about when it came to Eli and Todd. And literally, you guys are absolute wackadoodles. You’ve lost your ever-loving mind. Some of you that I used to have a little bit of respect for that I literally have none for now. And you all knew who I’m talking. Those of you know who you are and who I’m talking about. You guys are absolute cuckoo. Nut jobs. You’re exactly who I’m talking about. You won’t take a little piece of the pie. It’s all or nothing. And by the way, that’s not how you win battles. It’s not how you win wars. If there’s anything I could go back to the Colorado GOP with would be you can’t win the whole enchilada. You have to learn how to take small bites. All right, hang tight. I’ll come right back. I’ve got more time that way. High-five plumbing and electrical is next. 877-WE-HIGH-5.
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SPEAKER 18 :
Back to Rush to Reason. Presented by High Five Plumbing, Heating, Cooling, and Electric. Where every call ends with a high five.
SPEAKER 15 :
And we are back. Joe, what’s going on, sir? John, if you’ve got a couple of minutes, I’d like to explain why there can never be enough common sense gun controls to satisfy the left. Sure. Go ahead. And it starts with something. Are you familiar with the term cognitive dissonance? Oh, yes. And for your listeners who aren’t, let me just back up a little. You know, evolution and nature have trained us to make a safe environment for ourselves and our families. And that’s why we lock our doors at night and put new batteries in our smoke detectors once a year. And over the eons, those members of our species that didn’t follow that instinct fell prey to various threats over the past millennium. Now, cognitive dissonance occurs when new information is received that challenges or conflicts with existing beliefs or values. And when that occurs, the human instinct is to minimize that conflict between what we believed and what’s happening. An example is a smoker who knows that smoking is bad for you but they suffer from cognitive dissonance every time they buy a pack of cigarettes or light one up.
SPEAKER 16 :
I’ll give you another example. I talk to people quite often where I am of the belief today, and I don’t think I’m wrong in this, Joe, that when it comes to your kids roaming around and doing things and the fact that they now have cell phones, it’s safer today for them to roam around than when you and I were kids.
SPEAKER 15 :
Absolutely. But they won’t believe that. No, they don’t. But, John, I remember when I was growing up, the things I did, I mean, I would disappear in the morning. My mother wouldn’t see me until it was dinnertime. Yeah, likewise. You came home when it was dark. And she had no idea where I was all day long. Now you can track your kid.
SPEAKER 16 :
Right, right. So my point, though, to your point, Joe, everybody has this concept that things were a lot safer when Jeffrey Dahmer and he was running around and you and I were kids. Everybody’s got this thought process that was a lot safer then than it is now. And frankly, nothing could be farther from the truth.
SPEAKER 15 :
Right. But this doesn’t change his instinct to try to minimize this psychological conflict between the way you want things to be and the way they are. And an example of people with cigarettes. They try to minimize that conflict by buying ultralights. Instead of regular cigarettes, I’m going to get the ultralights. Or they try and tell themselves, well, not everybody who smokes gets cancer. So now we come to the mass murder of innocent kids in schools or random strangers in public places. The fact that you, your kids, or your entire family could be killed in less than a minute with no warning by a total stranger in a public place sets up a cognitive dissonance event. that conflicts with your beliefs that you have created a safe environment for you, your family, or that the government should be able to keep you safe and that you should be able to live your life without the fear of harm from others. But just like the smoker who buys those ultralight cigarettes, the need to reduce that level of psychological stress, cognitive dissonance, results in the natural instinct to do something, anything, regardless of the ultimate effectiveness of that action. Those that are governed by emotion will fixate on the tool, in this case the gun, and not deal with the fact that a crazy or evil person can always find a way to commit mass murder, even without a gun. And a couple examples, a couple years ago in Nice, France, a terrorist drove a truck into the Bastille Day Parade in Nice, France. Do you know how many people he killed in under 60 seconds?
SPEAKER 16 :
Oh, I don’t remember the number.
SPEAKER 15 :
A lot.
SPEAKER 1 :
86.
SPEAKER 15 :
86 people. No gun. 60 seconds, 86 people dead. Wow. A guy in the Bronx 10 years ago set fire to a nightclub, killed 87 people with two gallons worth of gasoline. And I’ll give you another example. Let’s go back to the guy who shot up the theater in Aurora. Imagine if he had simply chained the exit doors, all but one exit door shut with chains from the outside, opened one door, and threw a half a dozen Molotov cocktails into that theater. How many people do you think would have died in that sold-out movie theater? Most. Most? Most. So he could have killed more people with a couple of glass bottles and three bucks worth of gasoline than he did with his guns.
SPEAKER 16 :
Correct. And again, if you can’t think of— Well, and by the way, we had proof of that with what happened in New Orleans on New Year’s Eve. Right.
SPEAKER 15 :
And the same thing in Germany the two weeks before Christmas. So this brings us to why fixate on the gun. Well, trying to control the access to the type and quantity of tools— provides the person ruled by emotion, in this case our liberal legislatures, with a tangible course of action, which, if achieved, will reduce, albeit temporarily, the level of cognitive dissidence associated with that perceived threat to them and their family.
SPEAKER 16 :
And to your point, one of the sponsors of this is Senator Tom Sullivan, who is a centennial Democrat whose son was murdered in the 2012 Aurora Theater shooting. To prove your point, Joe.
SPEAKER 15 :
Right, and it’s all emotion. And so those ruled by rational thought like you and me and a broad knowledge of the many ways to create mass casualties without a gun, we understand that further restricting access to various types of guns won’t meaningfully reduce the threat to ourselves and our families. Nope. Because the threat is not the gun. The threat is the evil or crazy person.
SPEAKER 16 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 15 :
Now, you and I, we’ve reduced our cognitive dissonance by not lobbying for more gun controls. but by altering our beliefs and accepting the fact that there is no way to create a 100% safe environment.
SPEAKER 16 :
No, and at the end of the day, you’re a big portion of that. Not government, not police, not anyone else. You are.
SPEAKER 15 :
You are, and that’s why you and I carry concealed weapons. Correct. To protect ourselves, our families, and even random strangers in a shopping center. But here’s why it’ll never be enough. So let’s assume they were to get their ban on, quote, assault or offense. And for the next couple of months, they’re all going to feel good and their stress is going to be reduced until somebody else takes a couple of pistols. By the way, deadliest school shooting in American history, Virginia Tech University, a student killed 31 staff and teachers with two ordinary pistols, a .22 and a 9mm. Deadliest school shooting in American history, no assault rifle. So they’re going to feel good about this until somebody can, you know, Does it not? Well, we’ve got to ban semi-automatic pistols. We need to ban. Then somebody’s going to take a shotgun loaded with double-aught buck and, you know, and by the way.
SPEAKER 16 :
And by the way, Joel, as you know, because there’s other countries where this has happened, you eliminate all of the guns. We saw what happened in New Orleans. There’s other ways to do this.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah. Fire is a bomb. Manchester Theater in England, a guy bought a pressure cooker at Walmart and blew it up. I forget how many people they were going to an Ariana Grande concert. I think it was like the death toll was like 20-some people with a Walmart pressure cooker. But in the meantime, even if they got their assault weapon banned, somebody’s going to use it. By the way, if you took a 12-gauge shotgun and put six rounds of double-aught buck in it, that’s 72 high-velocity, because each round has 12.
SPEAKER 16 :
You get in close proximity in a crowd, you’re eliminating a dozen or more people.
SPEAKER 15 :
Right, with just six rounds of double up buckshot.
SPEAKER 16 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 15 :
So little by little, John, well, we need to ban this one next. We need to ban the next one. We need to ban the next one.
SPEAKER 16 :
The goal is to get rid of all of them. We already know that. Eliminate the Second Amendment, Joe, altogether. It’s archaic. We don’t need it anymore.
SPEAKER 15 :
It’s archaic. We don’t need it. But they’re not going to be happy until they get – they’ll never be enough. It’s not a case, well, if we just get this, we’ll be happy. No. No. If you just get this, that’s the camel’s nose under the table.
SPEAKER 16 :
And, again, my biggest complaint with all of this is not only are they doing that, but then as a taxpayer in Colorado, and, of course, the same thing happens in Jersey and other places in the country as well, but now my tax dollars, if, in fact, this passes and it’ll get sued, it’ll end up going up into the higher courts and so on. In the meantime, I, as a taxpayer, am paying to defend this.
SPEAKER 15 :
Right. And one of the reasons all the states are doing this, by the way, they are trying to break the bank of all these gun right groups.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 15 :
like the Second Amendment Foundation and the NRA, it’s lawfare. They know they’re not going to win.
SPEAKER 16 :
But they feel like if they can extract enough money out of their pockets, it’s a win for them.
SPEAKER 15 :
It’s a win for them because there won’t be the funding to fight them the next time around.
SPEAKER 16 :
By the way, it’s funny when they talk about – just as a side note, being gun guys like we are, they talk about these weapons that have removable magazines and so on. Joe, just if you were in a right location, right area, up high – Had a .30-30 with the tube-fed. You know, there’s no magazine there. You tube-feed a .30-30, which if you know what I mean by that.
SPEAKER 15 :
Lever action .30-30.
SPEAKER 16 :
Lever action .30-30 tube-fed. Put, you know, six, eight shots in. I don’t know exactly what. It depends on the model you’ve got and how many they hold and so on. But, Joe, could you do some damage with that?
SPEAKER 15 :
I think the guy at the University of Texas, the clock tower, 30 years ago, he went up with a bolt-action rifle and I think maybe an M1 Garand. And I think he killed a couple of dozen people with a bolt-action rifle. Just look up University of Texas shooting.
SPEAKER 16 :
So in other words, he didn’t use a detachable magazine, high capacity, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER 15 :
Nope, nope. He just sat up there at the clock tower.
SPEAKER 16 :
I’m not sure how that works because according to the left, that’s impossible. It doesn’t work that way.
SPEAKER 15 :
It doesn’t work that way. Right. That’s what I’m saying, John. So as soon as they get done banning one type of—you know, I call it squeezing a balloon— I think the people who believe that you can reduce, that you can limit or prevent people from committing mass murder by denying them access to one type of gun probably also believe you can make a balloon smaller just by squeezing it in one place. And we both know that doesn’t happen. You squeeze it in one place, it pops out somewhere else. And that’s what banning any specific type of gun is going to be the same reaction. Oh, yeah, I can’t use this gun, I’ll use this gun. I can’t use that gun, I’ll use a truck. You know, I can’t use this gun, I’ll use a Molotov cocktail.
SPEAKER 16 :
And really quick, just for an example for all of you listening, some of you even on the left, you can buy a, which Henry Repeating Rifles, very well-known lever action rifle maker. They’ve been around for eons. One of the oldest out there, Winchester and so on. Sort of a similar type of a gun, but a lever action gun. So I just went ahead and looked them up because I’ve seen ads for them of late. You can buy a 17 HMR, which is a new round, which, by the way, is still very deadly if you’re going to shoot people, by the way, Joe, at the end of the day. And by the way, for all of you listening, I’m not giving anybody any ideas that they wouldn’t already go get on their own. So just so you all know. This is very well-known stuff, Joe. I’m not giving a bad guy any ideas, just saying. This particular rifle holds 11 rounds, and you and I both know, scope that, get that person in the right location. And by the way, not only could they fire off the 11 fairly quickly, they could reload fairly quickly and get another 11 off if they wanted to.
SPEAKER 15 :
Or buy two and have two all preloaded.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, exactly. Point being, so many ways to do this that have nothing to do with whether the magazine is detachable or not.
SPEAKER 15 :
Exactly. So again, John, it’ll be—so if they were successful on it, and let’s hope they aren’t, it’ll just be temporary and they’ll feel good about themselves. And then, you know, six months later, somebody’s going to use a different type of gun. Then they’re going to want to ban that one. And then somebody’s going to use a 12-gauge shotgun with no more— They’ll want to ban double-aught buckshot and pump-action shotguns, and it’ll be never-ending. There is no end to the amount of common-sense gun controls that will ever make a liberal happy.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yep, you are correct. Absolutely. Joe, as always, I appreciate your input.
SPEAKER 15 :
That’s my two cents, John.
SPEAKER 16 :
All right, man, I appreciate you very much. Have a great rest of your night. Flesh Law is up next. And if you need some representation, civil, criminal, you’re fighting with an insurance company, I got a text message a moment ago, by the way, when Joe was talking about an accident, what do I do, where do I go, so on and so forth. If you’re running into issues with any insurance company, especially the other parties, give Kevin a call today, 303-806-8886.
SPEAKER 08 :
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SPEAKER 16 :
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SPEAKER 16 :
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SPEAKER 12 :
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SPEAKER 03 :
It’s time to leave your safe space. This is Rush to Reason on KLZ 560. All right, a few minutes left.
SPEAKER 16 :
I’ve got a few other bills that were introduced yesterday. And there’s, you know, a cadre of, and I won’t go through each one of these because, frankly, I don’t know where some of these will go. First one, House Bill 1001, seeks to improve enforcement and crack down on worker misconduct. classification, which sponsors say is often used to deny workers legally required wages, overtime, or sick time. In other words, one more way for government to get involved in things that, frankly, they shouldn’t be. Because keep in mind, workers have the ability to make those decisions on their own. If they feel like they’re not getting paid correctly, then leave. Go somewhere else. House Bill 1002 standardizes insurance coverage determinations, which sponsors say would ensure that mental health care is based on clinical evidence and not profit margins. That one I would have to look through more closely, but highly doubt that would be the end result of that. Bill 1003 seeks to increase health care access for children with complex medical needs by streamlining federal waivers. That’s another one I would have to investigate. This one’s interesting. House Bill 1004 places regulations, just what we need more of, on rent-setting software used by landlords, which the Biden White House claimed increased rent by more than $100 a month in certain parts of the country. And if you look at the percentage of inflation that we’ve encountered of late, I’m sorry, but $100 a month, $1,200 a year is not absurd. Right. So, again, I don’t know what they’re trying – well, I do know what they’re trying to accomplish. They want rent control. That’s the initial steps in this type of a bill is to get to the point where government has rent control. Colorado has rent control, which if that happens, good luck on renting anything because landlords will be done. Why be one at that point in time? House Bill 1005 creates a tax credit to incentivize film festivals to come to Colorado. Okay, whatever. I’m not a big fan of using tax money to incentivize anyone. That’s me personally. But, again, that’s what that bill’s about. House Bill 1006 gives school districts the ability to pursue solar fields and affordable housing projects in their leases. You know, my idea, and I’ve said this now many, many times, would be for school districts to look at their properties and what is not being maximized and then just getting rid of them. Selling them off. No longer having the maintenance. No longer having to worry about, you know, dinking with that. Turn that into a moneymaker for the county because when it goes out of the school district into somebody else’s hands, private business, whatever… Now it’s a tax generator. So how about we do that instead of worrying about whether or not they can pursue solar fields and affordable housing projects in their leases? House Bill 107 improves and standardizes… Para transit services for Coloradans with disabilities. House Bill 1008 encourages jails to provide access to mental health services and treatment to individuals. House Bill 1009 encourages local governments. I always like when they say encourages. Have you ever seen a bill or a law that encourages anything? It pretty much mandates anything. to reduce the prevalence of dead or dry vegetation to prevent wildfires. Now, again, why do we need a bill to encourage local governments to do so? Isn’t that just common sense? Shouldn’t that just be a part of their regular budget to do so? That’s what California, by the way, is going through right now, or the lack thereof. They don’t do any fire mitigation. Lastly, House Bill 1010 amends Colorado’s price gouging statutes to include household items like groceries. I am 1,000% against anything that talks about price gouging because there’s no such thing. Joe and I from Jersey, he was just on a moment ago. We have talked about that numerous times. There’s no such thing. If somebody is smart enough, I’ve got a minute here, I think I can do this. If somebody’s smart enough to know that some major event’s going to come into town You’re a hurricane area, and you’re a hardware store, and you think well enough in advance to buy extra plywood. And you happen to be the only store in town that has plywood. And because of that, you’re able to triple the price per sheet of plywood. By the way, good for you. And by doing so, by the way, you just created people from having a run on said plywood, meaning there’s now enough to go around so everybody has some, not one person getting it all. That’s why I am against any kind of price control because typically at the end of the day, it doesn’t do what it’s supposed to. It actually hurts those that need it. But again, you’re never going to get the left to understand what I just said. Golden Eagle Financial, speaking of finances, Al Smith. And if you’ve got a financial advisor that you rarely see or hear from, call Al today. Have a sit-down meeting with him. Find out what he can do for you. He would love to chat and look to the future to find out exactly what he can do to help you get into retirement and then stay there. Find him at klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 09 :
We’ll be right back. Starting to save even a few years earlier could mean the difference of hundreds of thousands by the time you enter retirement, even if the same amount is contributed annually. The longer you wait, the more you miss out on the compounding effect of time, making it much harder to catch up. Let Al Smith of Golden Eagle Financial help you today by contacting him on the klzradio.com advertisers page. Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC, a registered investment advisor. BCM and Golden Eagle Financial Limited are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but are offered and sold to individually licensed and appointed agents.
SPEAKER 10 :
Stay up to date with Rush to Reason after the show on Twitter at Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 16 :
All right, that is it for today. Tomorrow, Andy, of course, will be with me. He and my son Richard at 4 o’clock will have their NFL playoff picks. That won’t take as long because there’s not as many teams playing in the playoffs, as you know. Movie reviews this week will be The Damned and Den of Thieves 2 Pantera. I have no idea what The Damned is. Den of Thieves must be a takeoff of the old Den of Thieves that… It was actually a pretty good movie, so we’ll see how that one is. And then movie rental hour, be ready for this. You can start texting your answers in early if you’d like because of the snow we’ve had this week and so on and the cold. Snow movies. So that will be the rental hour topic tomorrow. So, guys, be safe. Have a great evening. Stay warm, I guess I should say. So we’ll be back tomorrow. Don’t go anywhere. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560.
