WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en NOTE In Guns We Trust (2026). Master (picture-locked) timeline. ingunswetrustfilm.com/transcript/ 00:00:15.350 --> 00:00:18.440 Present. Safety off. 00:00:20.100 --> 00:00:20.830 There you go. 00:00:20.880 --> 00:00:23.480 Fire. Safety back on. 00:00:26.270 --> 00:00:27.270 There you go. 00:00:27.330 --> 00:00:32.170 Compress, ready, rest. All right, we're gonna take our mags out of our pocket. 00:00:41.460 --> 00:00:42.630 There you go, there you go, there you go. 00:00:43.440 --> 00:00:48.840 All right, we all have hot guns. We're all live. Safety off. 00:00:49.800 --> 00:00:52.740 Just go crazy. Make sure you're hitting that red stop sign. All right, 00:00:52.790 --> 00:00:55.020 give me three shots on go. Three, two, one. 00:01:03.300 --> 00:01:08.920 Good. Nope, fix that grip. Good. Okay, 00:01:08.990 --> 00:01:10.780 now your slide's to the rear. What does that mean for you? 00:01:11.260 --> 00:01:12.260 I'm out of ammo. 00:01:13.160 --> 00:01:13.770 All your shots have been— 00:01:13.820 --> 00:01:14.820 Let me get three more. 00:01:15.300 --> 00:01:15.800 Last one. Lock in. 00:01:15.740 --> 00:01:22.000 Go. Okay, 00:01:22.050 --> 00:01:23.050 you're up. 00:01:24.780 --> 00:01:30.190 My name's Josh, and this is my best mate Tommy. And for as long as we both can remember, 00:01:30.580 --> 00:01:36.840 we've loved America. As Australians, 00:01:37.110 --> 00:01:40.900 we love their food, their movies, and their bigger-is-better attitude. 00:01:41.230 --> 00:01:42.970 Just said, yeah, America. Love it. 00:01:43.730 --> 00:01:46.520 But one thing we've never understood is their gun culture. 00:01:49.230 --> 00:01:53.590 When I get up in the morning, my rule is pants on, guns on. So my gun goes everywhere 00:01:53.640 --> 00:01:54.550 I go. 00:01:54.600 --> 00:01:55.600 You say you're from Australia? 00:01:56.160 --> 00:01:56.660 Tommy. 00:01:56.370 --> 00:01:56.870 Josh. 00:01:56.680 --> 00:01:57.200 Nice to meet you. 00:01:57.250 --> 00:02:02.730 Most Australians, including myself, don't understand or relate to America's obsession 00:02:02.780 --> 00:02:03.680 with guns. 00:02:03.730 --> 00:02:06.660 I mean, I've been carrying since I was, like, thirteen, bro. 00:02:09.260 --> 00:02:09.770 Wow. 00:02:09.820 --> 00:02:14.430 Can we make a documentary that shares a unique perspective beyond what we see in the 00:02:14.480 --> 00:02:15.240 headlines? 00:02:15.290 --> 00:02:18.020 Every single woman that I know owns a firearm. 00:02:18.600 --> 00:02:22.150 Yes, I've been shot before. .357 hollow point. 00:02:22.580 --> 00:02:25.910 And I said, I'm really sad to say, I'd probably give up my Bible before I give up my 00:02:25.960 --> 00:02:26.960 gun. 00:02:28.910 --> 00:02:30.260 We call that the sound of freedom. 00:02:30.840 --> 00:02:33.230 We heard gunshots. Like, we live right here. 00:02:33.600 --> 00:02:38.100 In my mind, there's only two things that guns are used for: hunting and killing. 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:42.530 Documentary about guns, right? Yeah. My son said to use the guns wisely. 00:02:42.580 --> 00:02:43.580 "Okay, Dad." 00:02:43.900 --> 00:02:45.040 What does that mean, exactly? 00:02:58.220 --> 00:02:59.220 What are you most excited about? 00:03:00.390 --> 00:03:06.720 I think it's, like, doing this topic justice. I think I don't know enough, 00:03:06.790 --> 00:03:08.660 and I feel like that's been a stress, which is, like— 00:03:09.030 --> 00:03:09.550 Yeah. 00:03:09.600 --> 00:03:15.160 I think that people would call out and say, "Oh, you don't know what you're talking about. 00:03:15.260 --> 00:03:18.910 Why do you think that you're in a position to make this documentary?" 00:03:19.070 --> 00:03:25.050 Yeah. I mean, who is best placed to make a documentary on something like this? 00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:30.470 I think the fact that we're so removed from that environment, 00:03:31.230 --> 00:03:34.830 I don't feel like I have a stance on guns, because we don't have them in our lives like 00:03:34.880 --> 00:03:35.700 Americans do. 00:03:35.750 --> 00:03:40.040 Yeah, it's crazy to think that in a couple of weeks' time we'll be in the car, 00:03:40.260 --> 00:03:43.050 driving on the wrong side of the road, upside down. 00:03:44.670 --> 00:03:46.380 Yeah, on the way to the airport right now. 00:03:59.900 --> 00:04:03.210 It's got, like... It's a big American car. That's all I know. 00:04:04.650 --> 00:04:05.990 I'll drive. 00:04:06.060 --> 00:04:09.780 Wrong side. I'm driving. Yeah, dude, it's chaos here. Thank you. 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:10.760 Thank you. 00:04:10.810 --> 00:04:12.660 She's nervous about you driving. 00:04:13.380 --> 00:04:14.420 Nervous? 00:04:14.660 --> 00:04:16.500 I'm nervous. Oh, this is a Cybertruck. 00:04:16.630 --> 00:04:18.400 No, bro, he just stuck his finger up. 00:04:18.500 --> 00:04:19.290 Did he? 00:04:19.340 --> 00:04:20.340 Come on, man. 00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:34.540 Welcome to Hollywood, everybody. My name is Sammy, and we're heading to Beverly Hills. 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:40.240 We're starting the journey in Los Angeles, home of the world's biggest movie stars and 00:04:40.290 --> 00:04:44.930 storytellers. Being outsiders telling a story so foreign to us, 00:04:45.170 --> 00:04:49.710 I'm a little skeptical, but my mate Tommy is a little bit more relaxed about the whole 00:04:49.760 --> 00:04:50.760 thing. 00:04:51.410 --> 00:04:55.110 On Vine, you see stars going up and down. This is the Walk of Fame. 00:04:55.910 --> 00:04:57.830 Gary Oldman, Laurence Fishburne. 00:05:00.360 --> 00:05:00.860 Whoa! 00:05:00.860 --> 00:05:05.050 To get over the jet lag, we've booked a Hollywood bus tour to find our bearings. 00:05:06.920 --> 00:05:10.120 Now, this is a very famous hiking trail called Runyon Canyon. 00:05:10.170 --> 00:05:12.060 We saw a big number of famous people here. 00:05:12.410 --> 00:05:13.180 Cool car! 00:05:13.230 --> 00:05:16.230 Those guys are not famous. Don't look at them. It's a rental. 00:05:19.530 --> 00:05:21.070 Sammy, what do you love about America? 00:05:22.390 --> 00:05:25.840 There's something new every day. That's the good thing about America. 00:05:26.550 --> 00:05:30.890 Where do you think is the best place we should go to experience guns? 00:05:32.740 --> 00:05:35.050 My son owns an arsenal. You don't want to see that. 00:05:35.650 --> 00:05:36.340 Oh, really? 00:05:36.390 --> 00:05:41.670 Really, yeah. He has M4s, he has an AK-47, as if he's going to war or something. 00:05:43.520 --> 00:05:45.040 There you go, another guy racing. 00:05:47.070 --> 00:05:49.760 And so do you think your son feels safer having the arsenal, 00:05:49.850 --> 00:05:50.350 or— 00:05:50.010 --> 00:05:54.120 He feels safer, yes. Depending on the area where he lives, everyone is armed. 00:05:54.290 --> 00:05:57.810 Everyone has a gun, for example, right? They don't walk around with guns, 00:05:58.160 --> 00:05:59.150 but they have them. 00:05:59.200 --> 00:06:01.460 What do you think about the Second Amendment? 00:06:01.850 --> 00:06:06.840 This is when people thought that they can carry guns and to protect themselves and their 00:06:06.890 --> 00:06:10.290 properties, but it's actually to protect the country, right? 00:06:10.590 --> 00:06:17.260 You can be civilians employed by the government to do a job for them. 00:06:17.310 --> 00:06:19.500 I may go in detail. 00:06:21.070 --> 00:06:26.310 I served with the US military in Iraq. I'm a civilian. They pulled me out of Hollywood 00:06:26.710 --> 00:06:32.620 and they put me in a war zone. '06, '07. 00:06:34.280 --> 00:06:36.460 And so that was when you were a contractor? 00:06:37.140 --> 00:06:38.140 Exactly. 00:06:39.490 --> 00:06:41.540 Did it change you at all, that experience? 00:06:41.750 --> 00:06:48.040 Very much. Yes, PTSD. It almost got me for a few months, 00:06:48.200 --> 00:06:51.710 but then I got out of it. A lot of my friends killed themselves. 00:06:52.450 --> 00:06:59.610 My captain shot himself in New York. Scarface filming 00:06:59.660 --> 00:07:00.660 location on the right. 00:07:02.870 --> 00:07:08.560 Sammy, when you were going through that PTSD, did you have a gun at your house? 00:07:10.640 --> 00:07:17.850 Yes, I did. But I never used it. But a lot of people did. 00:07:20.110 --> 00:07:23.260 We weren't expecting to have such a personal conversation with Sammy. 00:07:24.270 --> 00:07:27.960 By talking about suicide and the negative side of firearms so quickly, 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:31.670 were we entering the conversation at a depth we weren't prepared for? 00:07:33.790 --> 00:07:37.780 Americans are very divided on the issue of guns. For many people, 00:07:37.910 --> 00:07:44.800 guns are just something that wreak havoc on our societies, that result in death and destruction. 00:07:45.380 --> 00:07:49.440 I think for other Americans, guns are really about self-defense. 00:07:49.630 --> 00:07:53.470 They feel insecure in their homes. They feel like they could be victims, 00:07:53.640 --> 00:07:59.010 and they don't want to be victims. If they have a gun, they know that they are strong 00:07:59.350 --> 00:08:01.450 individuals who can stand up to anyone. 00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:07.600 What is the gist of this documentary? Is it pro-gun? Is it anti-gun? 00:08:08.200 --> 00:08:12.020 In Australia, we have very strict gun laws. There's not even the thought in their mind 00:08:12.070 --> 00:08:13.070 of guns in Australia. 00:08:13.240 --> 00:08:13.740 Yeah. 00:08:13.420 --> 00:08:18.080 We don't have to consider it day to day. Do you think you can be in the middle on guns 00:08:18.250 --> 00:08:18.750 as an American? 00:08:18.400 --> 00:08:21.560 No. No, I really don't. 00:08:24.120 --> 00:08:28.140 The right to bear arms is absolutely essential to being an American. 00:08:28.900 --> 00:08:32.130 There's a lot of good people out there. There's a lot of people that are kind of nuts. 00:08:32.210 --> 00:08:35.190 But the thing of it is, when they talk about taking away guns, 00:08:35.240 --> 00:08:39.580 whatever, the people that they're talking about taking the guns away are the honest people. 00:08:39.860 --> 00:08:43.820 It's totally against the Constitution of the United States, and they know it. 00:08:44.230 --> 00:08:45.230 They know it. 00:08:46.540 --> 00:08:47.540 Have you ever shot a gun? 00:08:47.920 --> 00:08:51.930 No, I'm very anti-gun. It's just not my thing. 00:08:52.020 --> 00:08:54.670 Is your goal here to take guns away from people? Is your goal here to teach people, 00:08:54.800 --> 00:08:59.060 or is your goal here to hear people? If your goal is to hear people, 00:08:59.110 --> 00:09:03.180 it's not for you to push them to think differently, but rather try to get to the heart 00:09:03.230 --> 00:09:07.770 of the depths of their own views, rather than being challenged to think differently about 00:09:07.820 --> 00:09:08.820 their perspective. 00:09:10.860 --> 00:09:13.280 I feel like, from where we're from, we're not thinking about guns, 00:09:13.560 --> 00:09:19.680 so I feel like I'm neutral at this moment. You think by the end of it we're gonna be 00:09:19.730 --> 00:09:20.730 still feeling like that? 00:09:21.090 --> 00:09:26.600 I mean, that's the journey we're going to be on. I'm really interested in getting every 00:09:26.690 --> 00:09:32.290 part of this conversation, so we can walk away and say we've made an honest film. 00:09:36.880 --> 00:09:40.130 We want to talk to all different types of people from across the US, 00:09:40.600 --> 00:09:45.060 but before we hit the road and start filming, we want to have a base level of firearm 00:09:45.110 --> 00:09:51.530 safety knowledge. So we signed up for training with renowned Hollywood armorer Dutch 00:09:51.650 --> 00:09:52.650 Merrick. 00:09:53.480 --> 00:09:54.090 Good morning. 00:09:54.140 --> 00:09:54.790 Morning. 00:09:54.840 --> 00:09:55.610 You must be Tommy or Josh? 00:09:55.660 --> 00:09:56.420 Josh. 00:09:56.470 --> 00:09:57.800 Josh, very nice to meet you. I'm Dutch. 00:09:57.980 --> 00:09:59.020 Dutch, nice to meet you, mate. 00:09:59.070 --> 00:10:01.330 Such a pleasure. Thanks for making it all the way out to Los Angeles. 00:10:01.380 --> 00:10:02.280 Are you ready to learn? 00:10:02.330 --> 00:10:02.830 Yeah. 00:10:02.870 --> 00:10:06.520 I love it. So the goals of this course are to learn the best practices for motion picture 00:10:06.570 --> 00:10:10.000 firearms use, provide you hands-on experience, first person, 00:10:10.440 --> 00:10:15.030 to build your confidence around firearms on set and off. So that you'll be a good, 00:10:15.080 --> 00:10:19.130 confident shooter, and you're accurate, and it makes it fun and safe, 00:10:19.180 --> 00:10:23.170 and you'll be like, "Oh, I really like guns. This was a lot of entertainment." So here's 00:10:23.220 --> 00:10:27.190 a chance to get to know you in thirty seconds. If you wouldn't mind standing right here, 00:10:27.240 --> 00:10:27.740 Josh. 00:10:27.760 --> 00:10:32.300 The last time I did this, I had a panic attack. I had to do it at a first aid course. 00:10:33.160 --> 00:10:35.830 Josh, you can do this. I have faith in you. 00:10:35.880 --> 00:10:38.770 Just stand right here. All you got to do is just tell us a little bit about your background 00:10:38.820 --> 00:10:39.810 with firearms. 00:10:39.860 --> 00:10:42.760 Experience with guns? No experience with guns. I'm from Australia. 00:10:43.520 --> 00:10:48.690 And I'm looking to come away with an understanding from a safety perspective, 00:10:49.370 --> 00:10:54.080 but also having some fun, too. Yeah. So safety and fun. 00:10:55.070 --> 00:10:57.210 You did great, right there. 00:10:57.270 --> 00:10:58.610 Thank you. 00:10:58.900 --> 00:11:02.070 I'm Tommy. My gun experience is that I watch a lot of movies, 00:11:02.350 --> 00:11:07.290 so I know what I see, but I don't know physically, because I don't have access to them 00:11:07.340 --> 00:11:07.840 like that. 00:11:07.610 --> 00:11:12.020 So you've been entertained by them, but you have no sense of how to really use them safely. 00:11:12.090 --> 00:11:14.800 The problem is, I think, Dutch, that I can, because I watch the movies. 00:11:14.980 --> 00:11:17.580 That's one of the problems of our industry. All right, well, 00:11:17.630 --> 00:11:19.860 we're going to break you of that, and we're going to give you genuine skills. 00:11:21.240 --> 00:11:24.750 Now we get to delve into my world: studio armorers. 00:11:25.110 --> 00:11:28.330 So this is what prop masters and armorers do behind the scenes that the real world never 00:11:28.380 --> 00:11:31.970 gets to see. We're going to deal with blanks, dummies, blank-adapted guns, 00:11:32.070 --> 00:11:35.890 blocking scenes, actors blowing up, and then we'll actually have a chance for you guys 00:11:35.940 --> 00:11:40.650 to be in a scene doing gunfire, getting hit, explosions. It's going to be really exciting. 00:11:40.980 --> 00:11:41.480 You with me? 00:11:41.460 --> 00:11:42.850 Hang on, who's getting hit, Dutch? 00:11:42.900 --> 00:11:43.730 We're going to toss for it. 00:11:43.780 --> 00:11:44.910 We'll see. 00:11:45.950 --> 00:11:49.730 That creates pressure, setting the hammer, and it's dropping the hammer. 00:11:49.980 --> 00:11:54.110 Take your thumb and touch your middle finger. Remember what Dutch said: 00:11:54.470 --> 00:11:55.720 marry your thumb. 00:11:55.810 --> 00:11:56.810 Really? 00:11:57.110 --> 00:11:58.170 But don't you shoot with— 00:11:58.330 --> 00:12:01.880 You focus on you. Pull the trigger and nothing happens, it's a misfire. 00:12:02.410 --> 00:12:04.250 This guy is going to have a hang fire. 00:12:04.510 --> 00:12:05.550 Oh, geez. 00:12:05.700 --> 00:12:08.840 There's his hat. Is that crazy? What do you call this? 00:12:09.230 --> 00:12:09.820 A bullet. 00:12:09.870 --> 00:12:12.570 The case, the bullet, the primer, the powder, is a cartridge. 00:12:12.920 --> 00:12:17.140 There's a thing called snap caps. Isosceles triangle, so it's a soft landing pad. 00:12:17.410 --> 00:12:18.580 Why are my thumbs so different? 00:12:18.630 --> 00:12:20.030 About three-quarters of an inch shorter than yours. 00:12:20.290 --> 00:12:22.070 You're doing great, mate. 00:12:22.250 --> 00:12:26.240 That, gentlemen, is your dominant eye. You're steady as a fucking rock. 00:12:26.640 --> 00:12:29.570 Do not rely on safeties at any time. Remind me what they are, 00:12:29.620 --> 00:12:30.120 Tommy. 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:32.540 Primer, cap, powder, charge. Case, bullet. 00:12:32.840 --> 00:12:36.490 You're learning already. Take aim. On the exhale, press the trigger. 00:12:38.550 --> 00:12:40.180 So you're not going to know when it's going to come up. 00:12:40.410 --> 00:12:41.710 So this is Russian roulette? 00:12:41.870 --> 00:12:44.270 In a way, but it's not, because that's about killing yourself. 00:12:46.110 --> 00:12:49.270 Even though we're shooting blanks, it feels like the real thing. 00:12:51.790 --> 00:12:55.450 In the back of my mind, there's a comfort of being in the safe hands of Dutch. 00:12:57.230 --> 00:13:01.510 It's beginning to sink in that on the road, things won't be as controlled, 00:13:01.560 --> 00:13:02.900 and the risk will be real. 00:13:05.010 --> 00:13:08.170 Nailed it. Now that you guys know how to shoot, you fired the guns, 00:13:08.520 --> 00:13:10.120 we're gonna go do an action scene. You guys excited? 00:13:10.500 --> 00:13:11.000 Yeah, great. 00:13:11.020 --> 00:13:12.360 Nice. All right, take your pistols. 00:13:12.530 --> 00:13:13.290 Awesome. 00:13:13.340 --> 00:13:14.190 Gear up outside. 00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:14.740 Awesome. 00:13:14.570 --> 00:13:18.220 First and foremost, thank you guys very much for being here today. 00:13:18.270 --> 00:13:20.900 You want to get some shit done, pick up the phone and call Hollywood, 00:13:20.950 --> 00:13:24.380 right? You're gonna fall back against the container. Go ahead and grab it and point it 00:13:24.430 --> 00:13:29.670 in that direction. Camera's rolling and set. Camera set, and action! 00:13:35.210 --> 00:13:42.830 Three, two, one. Cut! 00:13:43.280 --> 00:13:44.060 Cut! Yeah! 00:13:44.110 --> 00:13:47.250 Check our actors. Everybody all right? Take the gun. 00:13:47.430 --> 00:13:48.430 Tommy, you good? 00:13:48.990 --> 00:13:54.340 Performing with Dutch was a lot of fun. It felt familiar to what we see in the movies, 00:13:54.460 --> 00:13:59.530 but at the same time detached from the reality of firearms in the real world. 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:02.770 Yeah, I got all that Aussie blood on me, mate. That was a fair dinkum effort you did 00:14:02.820 --> 00:14:03.450 there. 00:14:03.500 --> 00:14:06.270 Well, I'm so glad you guys came all the way out here from Australia. 00:14:06.640 --> 00:14:09.110 I want to give you guys something to remember the occasion. Yeah, 00:14:09.160 --> 00:14:11.230 we got Prop Gun Set Safety hats for you. 00:14:11.280 --> 00:14:12.280 Yes, thank you so much. 00:14:12.680 --> 00:14:15.530 And when you talk to the regular shooters out there in America, 00:14:15.580 --> 00:14:18.780 you tell them you went to Hollywood, because "reel", R-E-E-L, 00:14:18.830 --> 00:14:19.830 "reel men shoot blanks." 00:14:19.950 --> 00:14:21.930 He actually does shoot blanks. 00:14:22.300 --> 00:14:23.220 I had a vasectomy. 00:14:23.270 --> 00:14:25.130 Oh, yeah, we'll get you the T-shirt. 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:26.450 We'll get you the T-shirt. 00:14:26.500 --> 00:14:27.240 That's perfect. 00:14:27.290 --> 00:14:28.290 Thanks, guys. 00:14:31.690 --> 00:14:35.510 I reckon this completely removes any jet lag left. Did you get Diet Coke as well? 00:14:35.660 --> 00:14:37.780 Yeah. Is this what you wanted? Like, this size? 00:14:38.500 --> 00:14:41.530 Uh-huh. Oh, that's good. 00:14:42.770 --> 00:14:45.580 We're going to see so much of America. What are you looking forward to? 00:14:46.530 --> 00:14:51.870 I reckon I'm looking forward to having a reason to have conversations that normally I 00:14:51.920 --> 00:14:55.390 would just feel like I was being nosy. So because we have the cameras, 00:14:55.600 --> 00:15:01.650 I feel like maybe I don't feel so intrusive. Yeah. 00:15:02.670 --> 00:15:03.670 Oh, really? Yeah. 00:15:04.110 --> 00:15:04.850 Dude, you can come over. 00:15:04.900 --> 00:15:05.900 Dude, are you guys, like, famous? 00:15:06.120 --> 00:15:07.760 Come, come over. Do you want to be famous? 00:15:08.220 --> 00:15:09.220 All right, it's gotta be quick, though. 00:15:09.270 --> 00:15:11.810 We gotta talk. Talking about guns. 00:15:12.490 --> 00:15:13.760 Guns? Like this type right here? 00:15:13.870 --> 00:15:16.010 Yeah, nah, a bit more lethal than that. 00:15:16.260 --> 00:15:17.960 Oh, damn. Wait, where are you guys from? 00:15:18.380 --> 00:15:19.360 Australia. 00:15:19.410 --> 00:15:20.150 Australia? 00:15:20.200 --> 00:15:20.710 Yeah. 00:15:20.760 --> 00:15:21.760 You guys don't have guns over there? 00:15:22.130 --> 00:15:23.130 Uh, not really. 00:15:23.260 --> 00:15:25.670 Yeah, it's a different— it's a different world over here. 00:15:29.050 --> 00:15:33.870 Tomorrow is the seventh anniversary of the Las Vegas country music festival mass shooting. 00:15:34.680 --> 00:15:38.910 Autumn, a mum, wife and history teacher who attended the festival, 00:15:39.340 --> 00:15:42.550 agreed to meet us before we head to Las Vegas for the memorial. 00:15:42.850 --> 00:15:44.600 Hi! How you going? 00:15:45.260 --> 00:15:46.260 I'm good. 00:15:46.330 --> 00:15:46.970 I'm Josh. 00:15:47.020 --> 00:15:47.630 Hi. 00:15:47.680 --> 00:15:48.350 Lovely to meet you. 00:15:48.400 --> 00:15:52.400 Nice to meet you. So my husband and I were actually at the concert. 00:15:52.790 --> 00:15:56.170 We were at the Route 91 concert. It was our second year. We had gone the year before. 00:15:56.730 --> 00:16:02.590 Last performer, everyone's still hanging out, having fun, and then the shooting started. 00:16:02.740 --> 00:16:06.330 We didn't know at first that that's what was going on. We heard the noises and thought 00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:09.240 maybe someone had fireworks. There was this, like, pop, pop, 00:16:09.290 --> 00:16:13.540 pop sound, and I was actually hit. So I was shot in the face. 00:16:15.160 --> 00:16:21.830 So I fell to the ground. The noise happened again, and I got shot again, 00:16:22.340 --> 00:16:26.400 for a second time, in the back. This one was just off my spine, 00:16:26.880 --> 00:16:32.340 and it came out the side. So it lacerated my liver, collapsed my lung, 00:16:32.920 --> 00:16:37.800 and I had this thought of, like, I'm never gonna see my babies again. 00:16:38.050 --> 00:16:41.780 Like, that was sort of what was going on in my head. Before we got to first aid, 00:16:41.840 --> 00:16:47.750 I was shot again in the hand, and finally made it into the first aid station, 00:16:47.870 --> 00:16:52.140 and they bandaged me all up. So I think that definitely helped. 00:16:52.410 --> 00:16:53.850 Saved my life that night. 00:16:55.100 --> 00:17:02.590 I woke up five days later. Now 00:17:02.800 --> 00:17:09.150 my brain has this thing. I'm sitting somewhere, like, it happened once at my daughter's 00:17:09.200 --> 00:17:13.740 school. I will picture what a shooting looks like right then, 00:17:14.600 --> 00:17:15.890 with everything that's around me. 00:17:17.960 --> 00:17:20.640 It was Halloween time. They were doing the Halloween parade. 00:17:20.930 --> 00:17:27.070 And in my brain, I saw what a shooting would look like with the kids running in the Halloween 00:17:27.120 --> 00:17:32.730 costumes. And it was so intense that it levelled me. Like, 00:17:32.810 --> 00:17:38.630 I ran from where I was. I found a mom that I barely knew, and I collapsed into her arms, 00:17:38.680 --> 00:17:46.840 because I couldn't deal with the image that was going on. And 00:17:46.890 --> 00:17:51.400 that's the kind of thing that— the type of trauma that I went through does to your brain. 00:17:55.770 --> 00:18:01.510 And today, of course, we remember seven years ago, the seventh remembrance of October 00:18:01.560 --> 00:18:08.760 1st. And this morning, there will be a sunrise remembrance ceremony at 7:30 at 00:18:08.810 --> 00:18:10.860 the Clark County Government Center. 00:18:10.910 --> 00:18:16.680 Good morning. My name is Sheriff Kevin McMahill, and every year I'm humbled by the community 00:18:16.850 --> 00:18:22.920 outpouring of support on One October. It's been seven years since the Route 91 Harvest 00:18:22.970 --> 00:18:27.680 Music Festival, but it feels like yesterday to those of us who lost loved ones, 00:18:28.270 --> 00:18:32.580 those that survived, and those that responded that night in 2017. 00:18:33.880 --> 00:18:37.060 I can tell you why so many first responders are haunted by One October. 00:18:37.850 --> 00:18:43.760 It's because we could not help everyone that night. Fifty-eight people died. 00:18:44.560 --> 00:18:49.910 So many people were injured, physically and emotionally, and that's extremely painful 00:18:49.960 --> 00:18:54.330 for us to live with. This sunrise ceremony has become a source of comfort for all of 00:18:54.380 --> 00:18:59.480 us, but I especially want to acknowledge those of you who will never see your loved ones 00:18:59.530 --> 00:19:05.650 again. We grieve with you this morning, as we have every single day for the last seven 00:19:05.700 --> 00:19:06.700 years. 00:19:08.260 --> 00:19:10.860 Lord, we thank you for the family and friends that are here today, 00:19:10.910 --> 00:19:14.380 representing loved ones that have been lost. Give us your peace, 00:19:14.490 --> 00:19:18.960 the peace that passes all understanding, and we ask this in your name. 00:19:19.320 --> 00:19:20.320 Amen. 00:19:29.250 --> 00:19:31.150 How has your journey with this been so far? 00:19:31.510 --> 00:19:35.880 Yeah, well, we were going to do a machine gun experience yesterday. 00:19:36.100 --> 00:19:36.600 Uh-huh. 00:19:36.520 --> 00:19:42.060 But then we found out that it was the anniversary of the Route 91. 00:19:42.110 --> 00:19:43.060 Yeah, yeah. 00:19:43.110 --> 00:19:44.420 And so it didn't feel right. 00:19:44.470 --> 00:19:47.440 I understand. I understand. 00:19:47.490 --> 00:19:50.290 What was Las Vegas like at that time, when it happened? 00:19:50.450 --> 00:19:54.700 My father worked as a security guard in UMC, which is an emergency center here in Las 00:19:54.750 --> 00:19:59.100 Vegas. So, like, the only trauma center that's closest to the Strip. 00:19:59.150 --> 00:20:01.360 So he called me in a panic and was like, "What are you doing?" I was like, 00:20:01.410 --> 00:20:04.420 "I'm sleeping, man. What's going on?" And then I go— I actually started looking at my 00:20:04.470 --> 00:20:08.240 phone and I see the news feed, and I'm like, "What the hell is going on?" I don't know. 00:20:08.340 --> 00:20:11.090 It's just a lot, and it's just a lot to take in, because it's, 00:20:11.140 --> 00:20:14.500 like, something that happened so close, you know? You know what they say? 00:20:14.580 --> 00:20:16.430 Guns don't kill people. People kill people. 00:20:17.260 --> 00:20:19.240 So what do you think of that statement? 00:20:20.280 --> 00:20:25.450 I feel like it's true, honestly, in my opinion. I mean, guns, 00:20:25.500 --> 00:20:29.380 weapons have always been there from the beginning of time. It's just the people that 00:20:29.430 --> 00:20:32.240 are using these weapons is what it really comes down to. 00:20:35.570 --> 00:20:38.520 All right, awesome. 00:20:41.060 --> 00:20:45.210 The argument that it's people, not guns, that kill sort of makes sense. 00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:50.410 But should every person have the right to own a firearm? Michael Sodini, 00:20:50.910 --> 00:20:53.930 a Nevada local, grew up in the firearm business. 00:20:54.030 --> 00:20:57.470 I'm gonna take you out to the desert. We're gonna go a little south down the 15. 00:20:58.840 --> 00:20:59.760 Geez, they drive quick. 00:20:59.810 --> 00:21:05.500 He heard about our documentary and invited us to shoot in the desert with him. 00:21:08.860 --> 00:21:09.860 How you feeling? 00:21:10.250 --> 00:21:10.770 Good. 00:21:10.820 --> 00:21:12.650 It's kind of, like, exciting. 00:21:12.750 --> 00:21:13.510 Yes. 00:21:13.560 --> 00:21:15.320 Also a little bit scary. Unknown. 00:21:15.780 --> 00:21:18.940 It'll be the first time Tommy and I fire live ammunition. 00:21:19.900 --> 00:21:21.650 I feel bad, because they're super nervous. 00:21:23.300 --> 00:21:27.760 Michael founded a not-for-profit called Walk the Talk, specifically designed to address 00:21:27.810 --> 00:21:28.810 mental health and gun ownership. 00:21:30.190 --> 00:21:36.410 The AR-15 is just a plain Jane American M4. 00:21:39.110 --> 00:21:43.890 People think this is a silencer. This is a suppressor. Because of Hollywood, 00:21:44.380 --> 00:21:51.590 a lot of people think suppressors are used for assassins, but most people use suppressors 00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:54.680 so their hearing doesn't go. For the many reasons people shoot: 00:21:54.730 --> 00:21:58.150 sport shooting, therapy, right, things like that. Over time, 00:21:58.200 --> 00:22:02.080 your hearing gets bad just because it's so loud. You know, I understand that Hollywood, 00:22:02.840 --> 00:22:06.360 the stories that are told, the John Wicks, they all use firearms, 00:22:06.410 --> 00:22:06.910 right? 00:22:06.590 --> 00:22:09.500 Jesus Christ. I guess that's going to happen a lot. 00:22:10.260 --> 00:22:11.260 Yeah. 00:22:12.710 --> 00:22:14.590 We're going to stop jumping at some point. 00:22:14.730 --> 00:22:18.810 In my mind, I think I'm not going to flinch. And then I just can't help it. 00:22:18.860 --> 00:22:21.040 It's, like, a— it is a natural response, right? 00:22:25.780 --> 00:22:27.500 Oh, great, the switch is in the back. 00:22:27.870 --> 00:22:31.720 Oh, wow, it's got a microphone. Hello, testing, one, two, one, 00:22:31.770 --> 00:22:35.350 two. Hello. And you turn that off when we shoot? 00:22:35.980 --> 00:22:38.970 No, you keep it on. Yeah, and that's it. 00:22:39.150 --> 00:22:42.220 Oh, I love that. It sounds like we're— 00:22:42.270 --> 00:22:42.770 You're talking— 00:22:42.650 --> 00:22:48.570 Stepping on Doritos. He's yelling. 00:22:48.840 --> 00:22:51.150 'Cause they're not loaded. Nothing's loaded yet. 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:55.710 Nothing is loaded right now, but the gun can't hurt you unless you do something silly 00:22:55.760 --> 00:22:56.750 with it. 00:22:56.800 --> 00:22:59.070 The basics are good when you've never shot a gun like this before. 00:23:00.210 --> 00:23:03.020 Okay, so get in your stance. 00:23:04.110 --> 00:23:04.720 Um, yep. 00:23:04.770 --> 00:23:10.850 Get comfortable. Breathe. Smooth. Slowly pull the trigger. Aim. 00:23:16.310 --> 00:23:17.310 Did you rack it? 00:23:17.500 --> 00:23:19.420 Yes. Okay, what's "rack it"? 00:23:19.660 --> 00:23:29.230 One in the chamber. Okay, 00:23:32.280 --> 00:23:34.190 cool. You fired your first shot. 00:23:46.560 --> 00:23:47.560 You're done. 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:48.890 Can we go check? 00:23:49.480 --> 00:23:49.980 You want to check? 00:23:49.960 --> 00:23:50.460 Yeah. 00:23:50.450 --> 00:23:51.210 Okay. 00:23:51.260 --> 00:23:53.430 I mean, here we go. 00:23:53.840 --> 00:23:55.760 That is so satisfying. 00:23:56.270 --> 00:24:01.680 Can't do better than that on your second shot ever. How do you guys feel? 00:24:02.300 --> 00:24:04.450 It's a bit addictive. I want to keep going. 00:24:04.870 --> 00:24:07.910 I feel a lot more in control when I've got it. 00:24:08.040 --> 00:24:09.220 Why don't we just now kind of move up to some bigger calibers, 00:24:09.290 --> 00:24:14.400 so you can feel the difference, and see how comfortable you guys are now that you got 00:24:14.450 --> 00:24:15.580 your first shots out of the way. 00:24:17.360 --> 00:24:18.360 I'm gonna frame that. 00:24:18.660 --> 00:24:21.600 I'll tell you what, we're gonna start off with this. The gun companies now are starting 00:24:21.650 --> 00:24:26.030 to provide the WTTA free and anonymous mental health screenings. 00:24:26.320 --> 00:24:29.550 If you're ever feeling out of sorts, or even if you don't feel out of sorts, 00:24:29.600 --> 00:24:31.610 you can take a mental health screening to see where you are. 00:24:34.460 --> 00:24:35.460 Whoa! 00:24:36.180 --> 00:24:36.950 Geez! 00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:40.310 These companies are starting to change the way things are done. 00:24:40.390 --> 00:24:42.250 You would never saw that six years ago. 00:24:42.570 --> 00:24:45.780 And so the mental health stuff, Mike, how did you get into that? 00:24:46.560 --> 00:24:50.750 My family owned one of the largest gun importers in the United States. 00:24:51.530 --> 00:24:54.450 I really didn't understand, like, the importance of the Second Amendment. 00:24:54.500 --> 00:24:59.200 I didn't understand some of the nuance of firearms culture. In my mind, 00:24:59.250 --> 00:25:03.060 I was always like, they do not do a good job of relating to the non-gun person. 00:25:03.320 --> 00:25:07.980 2009, the president of my company took his own life with one of our firearms. 00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:12.490 He, uh, he went through crisis, went to our warehouse, took— 00:25:12.540 --> 00:25:18.550 got one of the firearms, went back to his house, and felt that that was his only way 00:25:18.790 --> 00:25:23.970 to get out. How do you work with the mental health community on the things you can agree 00:25:24.040 --> 00:25:28.090 upon, to get people help? And that was the lightbulb moment. 00:25:28.170 --> 00:25:31.340 You know, now here we are six years later, and we're completely changing our culture. 00:25:32.020 --> 00:25:34.830 You know, now gun owners are coming forward talking about mental health, 00:25:35.160 --> 00:25:38.540 you know, because we're bringing two worlds that notoriously blamed each other, 00:25:38.590 --> 00:25:41.330 stood on opposite sides, you know what I mean? Now we're coming together. 00:25:41.390 --> 00:25:44.770 Okay, what can we do? You know, how do we save lives? How do we get people help? 00:25:45.160 --> 00:25:48.910 You know, to me, that's what it's all about. Yeah, getting people help. 00:25:50.360 --> 00:25:51.230 Thanks for sharing. 00:25:51.280 --> 00:25:53.400 Yeah. All right, let's have some more fun. 00:25:56.910 --> 00:26:01.920 This is an AK-47, chambered in 7.62x39. It's a semi-automatic rifle. 00:26:02.760 --> 00:26:05.210 You're only going to fire one round for every time you pull the trigger. 00:26:08.420 --> 00:26:11.350 Oh my God, my ears are ringing. 00:26:16.140 --> 00:26:18.000 All right, so what else are we shooting? What are they shooting now? 00:26:18.410 --> 00:26:21.390 Shoot a couple more big guns, and then the John Wick shotgun. 00:26:21.470 --> 00:26:22.640 Yeah, great, you can do that. 00:26:23.030 --> 00:26:26.580 John Wick is one of my favorite movies. All four of them. 00:26:33.640 --> 00:26:34.480 Whoa! 00:26:34.530 --> 00:26:43.980 One more. Remember, 00:26:44.050 --> 00:26:46.710 you haven't cycled it yet, so— Okay. 00:26:46.970 --> 00:26:48.710 What does the Second Amendment mean to you? 00:26:49.550 --> 00:26:53.770 The Second Amendment means everything to me. You know, it represents freedom. 00:26:53.880 --> 00:26:57.280 I think the Second Amendment holds up the First Amendment, and all the amendments make 00:26:57.330 --> 00:27:02.240 this great country. Regardless, if you waved a magic wand and you got rid of every gun 00:27:02.290 --> 00:27:06.200 in the United States, we still have issues. We still have violence issues, 00:27:06.780 --> 00:27:10.470 and we're not getting to the root cause of violence, and that's what we got to do. 00:27:10.640 --> 00:27:14.100 I think people need to always keep in mind that you may be the biggest threat, 00:27:14.150 --> 00:27:20.520 and that's why responsible gun ownership is so important. You could take ten people that 00:27:20.570 --> 00:27:22.560 have schizophrenia, you could take ten people that have bipolar disorder, 00:27:23.050 --> 00:27:26.770 you can hand them a firearm and say, "This is yours," and they will go their whole life 00:27:26.920 --> 00:27:32.100 without hurting anybody, like, not a fly. I could come home and catch my wife in bed 00:27:32.770 --> 00:27:36.500 with my best friend and snap, right? That's not a mental illness. 00:27:36.680 --> 00:27:41.070 That's an emotional reaction. So we got to get rid of the stigma of mental health, 00:27:41.250 --> 00:27:44.680 and we got to get rid of the stigma of gun ownership, that all gun owners, 00:27:45.020 --> 00:27:48.670 you know, they can't go through mental health issues. We can. 00:27:48.730 --> 00:27:51.490 We're humans. 00:27:51.780 --> 00:27:55.790 As a firearms importer, Michael has a lot to gain from people buying guns. 00:27:57.270 --> 00:28:02.080 And as a filmmaker, I was skeptical that tackling mental health was simply a commercially 00:28:02.130 --> 00:28:08.060 driven endeavor. But as we spent more time with him, we felt a sincerity to his work. 00:28:08.700 --> 00:28:14.350 He is leaning into uncomfortable conversations, and wanting to see less harm caused from 00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:19.430 the guns his family sells. We left our time with Michael conflicted. 00:28:19.860 --> 00:28:24.760 On the one hand, we had a lot of fun, but there was no doubting that in the wrong hands, 00:28:25.020 --> 00:28:27.960 with the wrong intentions, real harm can be done. 00:28:30.190 --> 00:28:34.890 The gun culture that we have has changed over time. When I started in the FBI, 00:28:34.950 --> 00:28:37.510 I was working counterintelligence and national security matters, 00:28:37.620 --> 00:28:41.010 but when the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting happened, 00:28:41.420 --> 00:28:46.190 then I was tagged to create what became the FBI's Active Shooter Program. 00:28:47.040 --> 00:28:52.260 My role was to create a team of people to train the 800,000 law enforcement to say, 00:28:52.330 --> 00:28:55.910 "What do you do when a shooting occurs?", to reduce the number of deaths if a shooting 00:28:55.960 --> 00:29:00.720 is underway. I think it's important to always step back and look at the facts. 00:29:00.770 --> 00:29:05.240 Sixty percent of the firearms deaths in the United States are suicides. 00:29:06.040 --> 00:29:14.780 It changes your perspective about the risk of having a firearm in your house. 00:29:15.930 --> 00:29:21.280 To understand why people buy guns, we decided to visit a gun shop on the border of Utah 00:29:21.380 --> 00:29:26.670 and Nevada. When we walked in, we didn't expect to see Gina at the counter. 00:29:35.200 --> 00:29:40.750 Right, I shot the .380 and I shot the 9. I found recoil. Yeah, 00:29:41.140 --> 00:29:42.140 my hands prove it. 00:29:42.300 --> 00:29:46.230 So we can help you find, like, a good middle ground. Yeah, so that way you can get something 00:29:46.280 --> 00:29:49.550 that not only works, but that you like shooting it, that's comfortable, 00:29:49.970 --> 00:29:51.170 and most importantly, reliable. 00:29:51.990 --> 00:29:53.970 When did you fire your first gun? 00:29:55.030 --> 00:29:56.030 It was Monday. 00:29:57.680 --> 00:30:01.550 It was striking to see someone decide to buy their first gun later in life. 00:30:02.110 --> 00:30:03.740 We were curious: why now? 00:30:04.670 --> 00:30:11.690 The trigger point is the crime rate in the United States. It's getting out 00:30:11.740 --> 00:30:17.230 of hand. We all know why. I don't want to say it on camera, because people will get insulted, 00:30:17.420 --> 00:30:24.790 but, yeah, it's self-defense. Because even in a small town like here, 00:30:24.840 --> 00:30:25.840 it's gonna— 00:30:29.160 --> 00:30:32.090 How about you, Ray? Have you ever had to pull your gun, or— 00:30:33.990 --> 00:30:35.980 In Vegas, of all places. 00:30:37.690 --> 00:30:38.820 Would you mind sharing what happened? 00:30:40.010 --> 00:30:43.930 Well, me and my wife went up to take a picture at the Las— Welcome to Las Vegas sign, 00:30:45.150 --> 00:30:51.660 and some big guy got all upset for whatever reason and started attacking my wife, 00:30:51.730 --> 00:30:55.510 and I walked up to him. And he started to swing at me, so I pulled out my pistol. 00:30:56.120 --> 00:30:59.950 I said, "Another move, you're dead." And he started yelling and screaming, 00:31:00.050 --> 00:31:03.840 "Gun, gun, gun!" And everyone started clapping. He backed off. 00:31:04.320 --> 00:31:10.940 Put my gun away, and he got in his car and he left. So. But there are others like that. 00:31:12.430 --> 00:31:16.410 Haven't had to shoot anybody with it yet as a civilian, which is good. 00:31:16.620 --> 00:31:20.860 I'm trying to keep it that way. But I'm not going to be a victim, 00:31:21.180 --> 00:31:25.320 or my wife, or my grandkids. So everywhere I go, I carry. 00:31:26.390 --> 00:31:30.290 There was something endearing about Ray, even the way he told his story. 00:31:31.030 --> 00:31:34.780 But there was no doubt that what he was saying was actually frightening. 00:31:35.460 --> 00:31:36.460 Do you like caps? 00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:37.490 All caps? 00:31:37.540 --> 00:31:38.040 No. 00:31:37.960 --> 00:31:38.960 Okay. 00:31:39.850 --> 00:31:43.510 We do get a lot of first-time gun buyers here, too, that want to purchase their first 00:31:43.560 --> 00:31:46.960 firearm and get trained with it, and that's our biggest focus right now. 00:31:47.630 --> 00:31:49.750 I don't want to just sell you a firearm. I want to train you with it. 00:31:49.880 --> 00:31:55.520 You know, that's our biggest goal here. Your turn. If anyone has any questions about 00:31:55.570 --> 00:31:57.860 his approval, all they have to do is look up that number right there, 00:31:57.910 --> 00:31:59.550 and it'll tell you all the information about it. 00:32:00.170 --> 00:32:01.170 So Ray passed? 00:32:01.440 --> 00:32:02.620 He passed. Good job. 00:32:02.800 --> 00:32:03.800 Well done, Ray. 00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:06.250 All right. Thank you. 00:32:06.470 --> 00:32:08.060 Hey, Ray, can I touch your gun? 00:32:08.580 --> 00:32:11.140 Just check it. Make sure it's not loaded. Pull the— there you go. 00:32:11.690 --> 00:32:14.260 The release is right there, of course. Push that straight down. 00:32:15.510 --> 00:32:16.350 There you go. 00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:21.360 Oh, what I do is, I pulled it out, because I carried it back here. 00:32:21.970 --> 00:32:25.360 I stepped back and told him, "Back off." 00:32:28.440 --> 00:32:32.220 Imagine this: you're at a bar and you're having a good time with your pals, 00:32:32.270 --> 00:32:36.350 and then all of a sudden two people come in and, uh, well, it's an armed robbery. 00:32:36.620 --> 00:32:42.180 So luckily, one patron had a gun himself. One offender was shot multiple times. 00:32:43.200 --> 00:32:47.620 Many people talk about the importance of owning a firearm for their own personal safety. 00:32:48.540 --> 00:32:53.850 So we're on our way to Tennessee to meet with Mychael, someone who has become a poster 00:32:53.900 --> 00:32:57.990 boy for the Second Amendment after killing three people in self-defense. 00:32:59.020 --> 00:33:05.350 His Instagram bio reads, "Son of the Most High, husband and father of four." And he says, 00:33:05.720 --> 00:33:12.700 "Self-defense shooting survivor times three." How do you get in three self-defense situations? 00:33:13.120 --> 00:33:14.120 I wonder if there's any regret. 00:33:15.180 --> 00:33:17.300 Once you shoot someone, there's no going back. 00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:27.280 Mychael was gracious enough to agree to meet us. We suggested we could go clay shooting 00:33:27.560 --> 00:33:28.790 to hear more about his story. 00:33:29.740 --> 00:33:30.240 Okay. 00:33:30.060 --> 00:33:31.060 Okay. Who's first? 00:33:31.260 --> 00:33:33.090 I reckon Mychael can go first. You can do the honors. 00:33:34.080 --> 00:33:37.500 Now, once— when that comes out, I just want you to follow it right to get in front of 00:33:37.550 --> 00:33:40.100 it, pull the trigger. Okay? On your call. 00:33:42.070 --> 00:33:43.880 Pull. 00:33:48.460 --> 00:33:49.840 He's good. 00:33:50.630 --> 00:33:52.750 All right, we'll try B. Okay. 00:33:53.550 --> 00:33:54.550 Pull. 00:33:54.760 --> 00:33:56.330 Damn, you're good. 00:33:56.400 --> 00:33:57.400 That's a nice move. 00:34:00.420 --> 00:34:02.250 Pull. 00:34:03.820 --> 00:34:04.820 Sharpshooter. 00:34:04.950 --> 00:34:07.680 You're really good at this, but the thing you need to do is relax, 00:34:08.010 --> 00:34:10.470 okay? Because, you know, especially with guys that, you know, 00:34:10.530 --> 00:34:17.050 hit the gym a lot, you're like, "Okay, let me—" and you're so tight that you can't move 00:34:17.100 --> 00:34:19.290 fluidly. Everything's a jerk, okay? 00:34:19.430 --> 00:34:23.270 So I'm used to, like, just training for, like, defensive shooting, 00:34:23.320 --> 00:34:28.290 so this is— I do clay shoot, but it's a little bit different, 00:34:28.340 --> 00:34:28.850 like you say. 00:34:28.900 --> 00:34:29.470 Oh, a lot different. 00:34:29.520 --> 00:34:30.870 It's different. Oh my gosh, it definitely is. 00:34:30.920 --> 00:34:34.130 In a self-defense circumstance, do you ever, like, aim at the legs, 00:34:34.180 --> 00:34:36.830 or just try and disable them, rather than killing? 00:34:36.880 --> 00:34:42.310 No. I shoot to stop them. So in both situations, I just shot to stop them. 00:34:42.360 --> 00:34:44.110 When they stop moving, I stop shooting. 00:34:44.580 --> 00:34:48.270 You can't instinctively shoot and determine, "Well, I'm going to shoot him in the leg." 00:34:48.400 --> 00:34:52.970 No, you just shoot him to stop him. If I'm here, [unclear], and James is coming at me, 00:34:53.020 --> 00:34:57.270 guess what? He's getting the first one in the torso and the second one to the brain. 00:34:57.320 --> 00:34:58.600 I'm double-tapping his ass. 00:34:59.490 --> 00:35:02.360 In those situations, what was the environment? 00:35:04.410 --> 00:35:07.600 First one, I was walking with my five-year-old son. His name's MJ, 00:35:07.650 --> 00:35:11.490 Mychael Waller Jr. We were in Chicago, we lived at the time, 00:35:11.880 --> 00:35:19.370 and I was going home. And as I was walking with him, a Latino male approached 00:35:19.420 --> 00:35:22.840 me in the alley, around 3:40 in the afternoon, so it was broad daylight, 00:35:22.890 --> 00:35:27.680 kind of looked like this. And, you know, pulls out a gun, starts throwing up gang signs. 00:35:28.190 --> 00:35:31.220 And as he started approaching me, I then go to shield my son behind me, 00:35:31.470 --> 00:35:36.320 and I go for my firearm. And when he sees my firearm, he opened fire, 00:35:37.180 --> 00:35:42.750 misses, and I returned fire, hitting him. And we just are, at that point, 00:35:42.800 --> 00:35:45.950 we're just exchanging gunfire. We're in a gunfight. It feels like forever, 00:35:46.020 --> 00:35:49.820 but it's happening within seconds. He lifts his head up. When he lifts his head up, 00:35:49.880 --> 00:35:51.900 I take a shot at his head, and he goes down. 00:35:55.110 --> 00:35:59.340 And how did you sort of deal with the weeks and months after, 00:35:59.390 --> 00:36:01.600 especially with your son being around? 00:36:03.520 --> 00:36:06.560 I think what helps me every time, every night I think about it, 00:36:06.610 --> 00:36:12.300 is just knowing that my son's okay. That kind of helps me get through, 00:36:12.760 --> 00:36:18.510 you know, those moments, you know. And now my wife and children, 00:36:18.640 --> 00:36:23.090 they really help me, you know, keep pushing through, because it gets hard at times, 00:36:23.150 --> 00:36:28.070 you know, taking life. But it was either our lives or his. So it was a pretty easy choice 00:36:28.510 --> 00:36:29.510 to make. 00:36:29.620 --> 00:36:31.800 Joe, does this resonate with you? 00:36:32.540 --> 00:36:36.160 Oh my gosh, yeah. I guess the twenty years I spent in the military, 00:36:40.220 --> 00:36:45.210 everything, any emotion you had was stifled. That's what he's describing. 00:36:45.280 --> 00:36:51.880 It's just, look at our movies in America, okay? Well, how does the good guy save the 00:36:51.940 --> 00:36:58.980 good people? He shoots them, you know? But yet we take the gun and we turn it 00:36:59.030 --> 00:37:03.940 into this weapon of destruction. No, it saves lives. He'd be dead. 00:37:03.990 --> 00:37:06.950 Him and his son may be dead right now, you know, if he wasn't carrying, 00:37:07.210 --> 00:37:07.710 you know. 00:37:07.610 --> 00:37:08.610 Yeah. 00:37:08.660 --> 00:37:10.110 Now, just make sure it's unloaded. 00:37:10.190 --> 00:37:10.690 Yep. 00:37:10.610 --> 00:37:11.610 And then put it in a rack. 00:37:11.810 --> 00:37:12.480 Cool. 00:37:12.530 --> 00:37:13.530 Next victim. 00:37:14.740 --> 00:37:19.360 For most of American history, courts generally thought that the Second Amendment was 00:37:19.410 --> 00:37:23.700 about protecting militias, and didn't have much to do with an individual right to bear 00:37:23.810 --> 00:37:30.310 arms. But there was always a contesting view. There was always a dissenting view about 00:37:30.370 --> 00:37:33.680 the Second Amendment, that it did protect an individual right to bear arms. 00:37:34.130 --> 00:37:38.890 Over time, that view became more and more popular. In the 1970s, 00:37:38.970 --> 00:37:45.010 that view became paramount. It became almost exclusively about a right of personal self-defense. 00:37:46.900 --> 00:37:49.980 There are many different reasons why people own firearms. 00:37:50.240 --> 00:37:51.940 Shooting range, next left. 00:37:52.840 --> 00:37:57.620 But for the most armed man in America, Mel Bernstein, aka Dragon Man, 00:37:58.280 --> 00:38:01.900 raises the question: can one individual own too many guns? 00:38:02.950 --> 00:38:05.200 Is that his shooting range? His shooting range, do we think? 00:38:12.920 --> 00:38:16.890 Yeah! Now what's more fun than that? 00:38:18.570 --> 00:38:19.570 Cut. 00:38:22.870 --> 00:38:23.870 Yep. 00:38:24.650 --> 00:38:31.140 Excuse me. Beep beep, beep beep, coming through. People say over 6,000 guns in my name. 00:38:31.680 --> 00:38:33.470 Everything's legal with the right paperwork. 00:38:34.250 --> 00:38:35.440 Do you like doing paperwork? 00:38:35.700 --> 00:38:39.380 Uh, well, my daughter does all the paperwork. I just buy everything. 00:38:40.770 --> 00:38:45.300 But, uh, being a Class 7 dealer— see, it goes from Class 1 to Class 7. 00:38:45.430 --> 00:38:51.530 Class 7 is the highest FFL license a citizen could obtain. So I reached that level. 00:38:52.010 --> 00:38:54.470 Amazing. Yeah. Is it sort of like black belt of the gun world? 00:38:54.560 --> 00:38:58.300 It's everything. I could call up today and get ten cases of dynamite delivered tomorrow 00:38:58.350 --> 00:38:58.860 morning. 00:38:58.910 --> 00:39:01.410 When you were talking, I was thinking about the Second Amendment. 00:39:01.540 --> 00:39:02.210 Yeah. 00:39:02.260 --> 00:39:03.350 How important is that? 00:39:04.110 --> 00:39:07.050 Very important. You know, if we lose that, we lose everything. 00:39:08.370 --> 00:39:11.430 You know, even when I was young, my dad used to take me upstate New York, 00:39:11.480 --> 00:39:14.910 you know, hunting and stuff. And I really don't like killing animals, 00:39:15.330 --> 00:39:17.360 you know, but, you know, we target practice and all that. 00:39:17.490 --> 00:39:20.570 What are the similarities in the gun lovers that you see? 00:39:21.900 --> 00:39:25.180 Well, they're really basically 98% all good people. 00:39:25.330 --> 00:39:27.590 Was it going to be more about, like, mental health? 00:39:27.770 --> 00:39:32.460 Off camera, we noticed Dragon Man's daughter Melissa getting frustrated with some of 00:39:32.510 --> 00:39:33.510 our questions. 00:39:33.560 --> 00:39:36.050 It just seems like the questions are leading, like, you know, 00:39:36.110 --> 00:39:41.300 you're trying to get him to say things, or something towards a certain type of political 00:39:41.450 --> 00:39:44.420 side. You could leave some things in there that he says. You could leave a lot of things 00:39:44.470 --> 00:39:45.230 out that he says. 00:39:45.280 --> 00:39:47.290 What's the biggest risk for you, do you think? 00:39:48.320 --> 00:39:51.680 Just satisfying the beliefs of those people who think that we shouldn't have guns. 00:39:51.760 --> 00:39:52.830 Yeah, yeah, okay. 00:39:53.940 --> 00:39:57.900 Melissa, can I ask you a question? Do you think you can talk about guns without talking 00:39:57.950 --> 00:39:58.950 about politics? 00:39:59.420 --> 00:40:04.140 Uh, right now, no. In the '90s, you could. The media has made it a huge political thing. 00:40:04.680 --> 00:40:05.290 Yeah. 00:40:05.340 --> 00:40:08.090 How you doing there? Thanks for coming to see my military museum. 00:40:08.140 --> 00:40:12.080 I'm the Dragon Man. Probably going to take about two hours, so you guys are really going 00:40:12.130 --> 00:40:14.720 to get a lot of information, you know, if you listen up. 00:40:15.110 --> 00:40:16.510 Are these real guns, Mel? 00:40:16.640 --> 00:40:21.870 Uh, yeah, nothing says Toys "R" Us. .78 caliber. That's a big slug. 00:40:21.940 --> 00:40:22.450 Wow. 00:40:22.500 --> 00:40:26.610 .58 caliber right here. Blunderbuss. And if that thing hits you, 00:40:26.900 --> 00:40:31.220 your head's coming off. This is the Enfield bolt-action. This is as close as you get 00:40:31.270 --> 00:40:32.750 to the gun that killed Lincoln. 00:40:33.100 --> 00:40:39.580 He died the next day, April 15th, 1865. Okay, guys, at least once a month, 00:40:39.670 --> 00:40:45.020 I like to tell people about Terry, my late wife. Uh, this is her memorial right here. 00:40:46.580 --> 00:40:52.450 In 2012, we were filming for the Discovery Channel. I was supposed to have my own show 00:40:52.530 --> 00:40:59.110 called Dragon Tales, you know, and the very last episode, all we had to do was hold the 00:40:59.160 --> 00:41:04.360 machine guns and walk through the smoke. And one of the smoke bombs took off and went 00:41:04.450 --> 00:41:08.090 right through her. She was right next to me, and she died right out here in the shooting 00:41:08.140 --> 00:41:12.450 range. And she really did a lot, you know, to get this museum going. 00:41:12.710 --> 00:41:16.300 So we don't want her to be forgotten. Her name was Terry Flanell. 00:41:17.020 --> 00:41:22.740 All right, thanks for listening. Okay, the next room here is World War I. 00:41:23.620 --> 00:41:26.970 People grow up and their parents have businesses, and not everyone wants to go into the 00:41:27.020 --> 00:41:31.070 family business. What was that decision for you like? 00:41:31.600 --> 00:41:37.190 Um, I didn't have a choice. I mean, I had a choice. My mom passed away very abruptly, 00:41:37.850 --> 00:41:41.040 and my dad did not know how to do a lot of the paperwork side of things. 00:41:41.770 --> 00:41:46.100 So the reason why I stay is, I do love firearms. I could do this anywhere. 00:41:46.550 --> 00:41:51.350 It's the museum that keeps me here. There's so much history in that museum that people 00:41:51.400 --> 00:41:54.710 need to learn about. And if it's not here to be seen by people, 00:41:54.840 --> 00:41:59.110 it needs to go on to another museum, because there's history throughout the world that 00:41:59.170 --> 00:42:00.510 people need to remember. 00:42:01.650 --> 00:42:03.360 How often do you think about your mum? 00:42:04.310 --> 00:42:10.500 Every day. Yeah, so being here keeps me closer to her. 00:42:11.780 --> 00:42:13.850 And someone has to watch my dad. He's got— 00:42:16.150 --> 00:42:20.510 Dragon Man and his daughter Melissa didn't need to open their doors to our cameras, 00:42:21.250 --> 00:42:26.600 but they did. Beyond the character of Dragon Man, we did get to see a side that is Mel 00:42:26.650 --> 00:42:32.230 Bernstein: that's kind, that's generous, and just so happens to have an obsession with 00:42:32.280 --> 00:42:33.030 guns. 00:42:33.080 --> 00:42:34.580 Thank you so much for being so generous. 00:42:34.630 --> 00:42:35.130 Oh, yeah, yeah. 00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:35.500 That was amazing. 00:42:35.410 --> 00:42:36.100 Yeah, my pleasure. 00:42:36.150 --> 00:42:36.660 Thanks, Mel. 00:42:36.710 --> 00:42:37.710 Yeah, you're good guys. 00:42:47.660 --> 00:42:49.450 What have you thought of Texas so far? 00:42:50.180 --> 00:42:53.690 People are so friendly. Weather's very hot. 00:42:53.800 --> 00:42:54.320 Yes. 00:42:54.370 --> 00:42:56.300 And it seems like they're running their own show. 00:42:56.990 --> 00:42:57.840 What do you mean? 00:42:57.890 --> 00:42:59.330 Like, Texas is Texas. 00:43:00.090 --> 00:43:00.590 Yeah. 00:43:00.580 --> 00:43:01.580 What's up, Parnell? 00:43:03.440 --> 00:43:04.730 Oh, look, he's got a gun on his hip. 00:43:05.500 --> 00:43:06.500 You see? 00:43:09.290 --> 00:43:13.630 That's the first person, like, person in public that we've seen with a gun on their hip. 00:43:13.680 --> 00:43:14.890 He looks like a real cowboy. 00:43:15.780 --> 00:43:16.780 Maybe he's a sheriff. 00:43:19.130 --> 00:43:21.620 I like it. Is it too much to ask him about his gun? 00:43:21.730 --> 00:43:22.730 Yeah, I think so. Too much? 00:43:24.960 --> 00:43:27.030 Excuse me, sir. 00:43:27.950 --> 00:43:28.450 Yes, sir. 00:43:28.430 --> 00:43:29.430 Are you the sheriff? 00:43:29.480 --> 00:43:30.330 Yes, sir. 00:43:30.380 --> 00:43:31.380 Tommy. 00:43:31.440 --> 00:43:32.440 Nice meeting you. 00:43:32.550 --> 00:43:33.550 And this is my friend Josh. 00:43:33.820 --> 00:43:35.220 Josh, how are you doing? I'm Parnell. 00:43:35.610 --> 00:43:39.390 We're from Australia, making a documentary about the Second Amendment. 00:43:39.470 --> 00:43:44.480 I'm a big Second Amendment guy. Yeah, I think every honest citizen ought to be able to 00:43:44.530 --> 00:43:45.530 carry a firearm. 00:43:46.060 --> 00:43:52.940 Um, and so you're dealing with civilians with guns. Does that complicate what you have 00:43:52.990 --> 00:43:54.270 to do? How do you stay safe? 00:43:54.340 --> 00:44:00.370 Absolutely not. No. I'd like to see you, and you, and everybody in here that's law-abiding 00:44:00.460 --> 00:44:01.460 have a firearm. 00:44:01.850 --> 00:44:02.450 Yeah, that's what I— 00:44:02.500 --> 00:44:06.200 See that silver Ram out there? If you want to, I'll let you blow the siren. 00:44:06.320 --> 00:44:07.940 Oh, I'd love that. 00:44:15.410 --> 00:44:17.280 Turn it up. 00:44:18.480 --> 00:44:22.550 I love it. That's great. 00:44:22.640 --> 00:44:27.300 You guys want to get some pictures of y'all with some Thompson submachine guns? 00:44:28.160 --> 00:44:29.410 Yeah. Have you got a stash? 00:44:30.160 --> 00:44:31.160 I got a stash. 00:44:31.390 --> 00:44:34.260 Well, this escalated quickly, didn't it? 00:44:34.400 --> 00:44:35.460