March 19, 2025 • 35 mins
Ian Escalante, executive director of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners joins Sheriff Steve Reams (in for Dan) to discuss the latest egregious gun grab bill (SB25-003) currently making its way through the Colorado General Assembly.
Pueblo County Sheriff David Lucero joins the program with update on an officer-involved shooting death of a gang member who wounded several officers himself before being taken out.
Pueblo County Sheriff David Lucero joins the program with update on an officer-involved shooting death of a gang member who wounded several officers himself before being taken out.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Dan Capless and welcome to today's online podcast
edition of The Dan Caplis Show. Please be sure to
give us a five star rating if you'd be so kind,
and to subscribe, download and listen to the show every
single day on your favorite podcast platform.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome back to hour two of The Dan Capless Show.
You've got Steve raems Well Kenny Sheriff as your guest
host today day number two here in the seat, and
man it flies. We've already been through that first hour
and we'll be cueuing up our guests here in just
a few moments. But before we do that, I just
want to throw out the phone number for anybody wants
to call in three oh three seven one three eight
two five five, or you can text the studio at
(00:35):
five seven seven three nine. Just start your text out
with Dan. And before we get to our guests, I
just want to I post to the listeners if you
have a candidate for governor that you'd like to see run,
text it in, call it in. We've got a few votes.
Alexi says, I think Dan Caples should do it, but
he won't because his wife won't let him. And then
we got a vote for George Brockler, hands down would
(00:57):
be one of the best, although I would hate to
lose him as our and I can tell you I
don't think George has it anim to run for governor,
just from my own personal knowledge of him, not because
he couldn't do it, but I think he just doesn't
want to run for a state wide race again, and
he's an awesome district attorney. And then one other Texter
says that the legislature really wants to crack down on guns,
they should crack down on people on people buying and
(01:19):
selling them illegally on Snapchat, especially when it comes to
dealing with juveniles. Apparently they have some personal information there
from working in the juvenile justice system, so I'm sure
that's a problem. As a law enforcement officer, I can
tell you there's a whole lot of ways for kids
and other people to get guns illegally and they don't
follow the law. Having set all that up, let's get
to our next guest, which is State Senator Byron Pelton.
(01:42):
He's the Minority Caucus chair, and he's the senator out
of Senate District one, which I think represents like, I
don't know, a quarter of the state. But with US
now is Byron Pelton. Byron, thanks for joining the show.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Thanks for having me, Sheriff. I think I can I
have a vote on the governor. Yeah, let's hear it's
let's let's run you for governor.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
How's that?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I think you're crazy? You know, it's okay. Everybody. Everybody
can have an opinion.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
You know.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I was saying yesterday that running for office ages you
and dog years, which you should know. And I think
being in law enforcement does that twice as fast. And
I don't know if running for another office is in
my blood, but I'm not ruling anything out at this point.
So well, Byron again, thanks for coming on the show.
It's a pleasure to have you. If you would. Yeah,
(02:31):
I know you've had a little bit of a history
in politics County commissioner, kind of moved your way through
that and then ran for Senate District one. Tell us
a little bit about your history and kind of the
area that you represent before we dive into some of
the stuff you're doing down at the Capitol.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Well, I represent seven counties and that's Phillips, Sedwick, Washington, Uma,
Logan Morgan, and the majority of world.
Speaker 5 (02:57):
And you're my senator.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Yes, I'm your senator, that is correct, and six of
those counties are in the top ten haag producing counties.
I grew up farming and ranching with my family down
in shi and Wells, Colorado, out in the middle of nowhere,
and then my wife and I well and then when
I moved up to Sterling, and my wife and I
decided that we would buy some cattle, so we have
(03:22):
a small cow calf operation. And then I'm a master electrician,
so that pays for my cattle habit. And that's what
she says, et lad and I served as a county
commissioner for six years in Logan County, and during those
six years, five out of those six years we made
sure that our roads and bridges and law enforcement was
(03:44):
taken care of. But then I also voted five out
of six years to cut our mill levy back a
little bit because we had such a huge surplus that
after we gave raises to folks and after we fixed
our roads and stuff, we wanted to make sure that
we were able to give a little bit back to
our citizens. And so I mean that's I mean, we
(04:05):
got to remember who puts us here. It's always the
citizens and that's why I looked at it.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I mean responsibly using taxpayer dollars. I mean that's unheard of.
You know, they happen to do that in Weld County two,
which you know, I wish it could be contagious and
come down to the state House. But as you know,
we're like over a billion dollars upside down on the
budget right now, and I don't see that correcting itself
without a lot of gnashing of teeth and of course
(04:29):
cutting important programs and hanging on to the ones that
aren't so important. With that said, at the start of
the legislature, you were proposing a bill that I think
would correct a lot of the problems that they're spending
money on right now, and that's the fentanyl crisis. Tell
us a little bit about this bill that you push
forward and why it was so important to you, and
how fentanyl affects everything downstream in your life as a senator.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Well, here, so I came up with a fed bill
because the drug problem in northeast Colorado is so bad
and as well you know, yes, sir, And the part
the reason why the fendyl crisis is so important is
to me is because while I was a county commissioner.
We had a family who overdosed and it wasn't just
(05:22):
a family, it was just a mom and dad, but
they left three children that the county had to then
take care of and it was a horrible situation.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
And so.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
I was laser focused on doing something about drugs. My
first year, we did something about We tried to do
something about drugs, and that barely got out of the
Senate and then failed in the House. Then my second
year we worked on another drug bill and it didn't
even get out of the House. So this is my
third year, and I wanted to focus on fentanyl, and
(05:55):
I just wanted to say, guys, the finel crisis is
killing people by the droves. I mean people are dying
in Colorado. It's the number one cause of death between
of ages. I think it's like eighteen and thirty five
or something like that in the nation. And I wanted
to do something about it. So my fentanyl what my
fentanyl builds said was that if you sold Sentinel to
(06:18):
somebody and they died, you were going to be held
with a class for felony. And then if you got
caught with Sentinel, you're going to be held to a
class or I'm sorry, the fentanyl died. You were going
to be held with a class one fella drug felony.
And then if you were if you were in possession
of it with the intent to distribute, which we were
(06:40):
trying to sell it, which we put the onus on
the district attorney to prove that they were selling it.
That you were going to get a class for felony
and we're going to put you behind bars with no approbation.
Speaker 5 (06:51):
Which is so logical. You're going to do so logical.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
You're going after the dealers, you're going after the people
peddling that stuff on the street. And what happened And
when that thing started moving through the legislature and got
to its first committee, let me guess party line vote.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
No, I had one Democrat side with me.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Oh amazing, a strict attorney, so someone with a little
bit of sense about how the law works.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Yes, it still died because it's still a lopsided committee,
which it's only got two Republicans and five Democrats.
Speaker 5 (07:28):
That's totally fair.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Four to three vote yes, Yeah, that is correct. The
thing that they kept bringing up to me over and
over and over again is do you realize how much
is this going to cost by putting these people in jail?
And I said, I don't care, because it's going to
be saving lots.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yeah, do you know how much it costs to bury
all these people? And yeah, the cost of Fentanel on
the state isn't It isn't putting people in prison. It's
the damage that it's doing to our communities. I mean,
walk outside the capitol watch all these people in drug
induced comas and tell me that's not costing the state something.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Right exactly. I mean, and drugs is a perfect example
of all the crime that happens up here in northeast Colorado.
At one time, Jarriff, we had like center pivot sprinklers
where all the copper was being stolen off the center
pivot sprinklers.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
Yeah, anything that can be recycled.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Anything can be recycled. Or they would drive around and
steal gas and diesel from farmers because out here, you know,
we don't walk our stuff, but now we are because
of the crime, because people come in and steal that
stuff and sell it and then buy drugs with it.
And I mean, it's just an ever evolving thing where
drugs you're trying to get your next hit. You're trying
(08:44):
to get your next score, and you're doing everything to
do that and stealing from people, and it just isn't right.
And so I went after what was causing the problem,
and that was the drug dealers, because that's what I
wanted to target, was the drug dealers, and I got
shot down.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Well, we have just a few seconds left, so I'll
make this quick. But is there any way that this
budget process gets through without us seeing some really ugly
cuts that to really important things? Are they going to
make the right cuts?
Speaker 3 (09:18):
I think that we have Senator Kirkmeyer on the JBC,
which is going to be excellent and she's going to
do her best, but I still think we're going to
see some ugly cuts in some places.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Unfortunately, I think when the Democrats start prioritizing things, they
don't prioritize the things that matter to us. So, Byron,
thanks for coming on with us. It's always a pleasure
to talk with you. You're a common sense guy that you
have such a good nature about yourself, and you go
down there every day with a smile on your face.
You may not leave with one, but you go down
there every day to do the Lord's work, So we
appreciate having you on and again, keep fighting that fight.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Thanks Cher, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
You're listening to the Dan Kaplas Show with guest hosts
Steve Riems filling in and it's a pleasure to have
you all listening.
Speaker 6 (10:00):
And now back to the Dan Kaplas Show podcast.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Welcome back to the Dankapleas Show. Is Steve rings Welkinny
Sheriff as your guest host, and I'm sure that song
was brought in in special honor of our next guest.
I'm sure he's a huge fan. On the line with us,
we have the executive director of the Rocky Mountain Gun
Owners Ian Escalante. Ian, I'm sure you're calling us from
the state Capitol. Are on your way there or on
your way back? Something like that? How you doing tonight?
Speaker 4 (10:25):
Doing good? Thank you sharing for having me on. How
are you?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
You know I'd be a lot better if this legislative
session would end? And I'm sure you probably think the
same way. But let's dive right into it. What's happening
down there when it comes to gun bills. We're all
here in Senate Bill three, but I think there's a
lot more on the hot plate fill us.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
In absolutely so. First off, obviously, we have Senate Bill THREI,
one of the worst gun bills ever filed in US history.
On top of that, we're looking at about eleven to
twelve other bills that they're trying to ram through, and
that ranges from forcing federal money laundering to come through
(11:04):
Colorado to anti gun organizations, forcing the law enforcement to
destroy weapons that they confiscate or surplus weapons instead of
auctioning them all right, baning it twenty adults under twenty
one from purchasing ammunition, teaching children in school how to
(11:27):
red flag their parents.
Speaker 5 (11:29):
What could go wrong.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Complete and total train wreck is really the only way
I described as legislative sessions.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Yeah, you know, I've told many people that, you know,
we've got some extremes on both sides of the part
of both sides of each party that are that are
represented down at the state House, but far more stacked
on the on the Democrat side, to the point that
I don't even know if most Democrats can identify with
some of the stuff that they're pushing through. Yet it
keeps passing. Even with Senate bel three, we saw an
(12:00):
extremely radical bill that basically got rewritten a couple of
times to something that I guess is considered palatable potentially
by the governor. Do you think that bill stands chance
of being signed by the governor? Do you think the
governor holds his nose and says, nah, I just can't
get there. I'm going to veto this. Where do you
think that one goes in?
Speaker 4 (12:20):
So I really don't know. The Governor, as per usual,
has a silent on Senate Bill three and kind of
talked out of both sides of his mouth. He's done that.
He does do that with very controversial issues, a typical
politician fashion. Right now, we're really focused on killing this
bill in the House of Representative, so we are expecting
(12:43):
a second reading vote on Friday, okay, and the listeners
who are not masochistic like me, and they don't dive
into legislative procedure. A bill has to go through a
certain amount of stages each chamber before it can pass.
But first reading is is the committee. It goes through
(13:05):
a couple of committees, then it goes to second reading
where it's debated and amended, and then it goes to
third reading and final passes where they actually vote the
bill out of the chamber, so second reading will be
the time for us and the Conservatives and the pro
gun champions in the state legislature really shine and hold
(13:25):
that floor for as long as possible. There are a
lot of solid representatives from Weld County and we are
expecting them to stay strong fight against this.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Bill, even if it means they.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Have to stay there all night, even if it means
getting punished by the other side by having to come
in on a weekend. We have to make sure that
our folks on the Republican side of the aisle are
ready and willing to fight, and that's what we're what
we're working on right now. And on top of that,
to your point, I think we're going to see a
(14:00):
lot of Democrats break from their party and vote against this.
I mean, we saw a bill that would pretty much
regulate gun shows out of existence sure barely pass out
of the House right hate Democrats voted now only passed
by two votes. So we're keeping the pressure up right
now as we speak, we have arm gu volunteers knocking
(14:20):
doors in the districts of these representatives and telling their
constituents what they're voting on.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Well, We've had some Texters and some callers from around
the state, but most notably from down in the Pueblo
area and express some concern about Senate Bill three for sure,
And you know, I don't know that I don't know
that the Democrats at the State House understand. There are
Democrats that love their guns, and Pueblo is one of
those communities that's very strong on gun rights. In fact,
we're going to have the sheriff from Pueblo on following
(14:48):
your segment, who's going to come on and talk about
his I shouldn't say support of the bill. He hates
the bill. He's going to come on and talk about
where he stands with the rest of us of trying
to get rid of this thing. But also, they just
had a shooting in Pueblo and he's talking about how
this bill would do nothing to change what happened down
there because it's only affecting law abiding citizens and that
(15:11):
is where things keep going wrong. If the listeners out
there could do anything to help the Republicans fight this
or to help sway Democrats, what would you suggest are there?
Do you have some numbers they could call, Is there
an email that they could send? What helps move the
needle for you.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
You the only thing that moves the needle. Here is
demonstrable proof of angry voters. So, if you live in
a place like Pueblo or the Saint Luis Valley or
the Western Slope or even areas in northern Colorado, then
you have a Democrat representative. You can go to Colledge
(15:50):
dot gov, CEO l e G dot gov. Then you
can click find my legislator. There's a tab that you
can click and it'll pull up a map and you
can put in your address and it'll generate who your
house rep is. So, if it's a Democrat, get on
(16:12):
their phone lines, let them know you're not going to
stand for this, and urge them to vote against this
terrible bill. If you live in a Republican area like
Weld County or somewhere on the Eastern Plains or somewhere
down south, you probably have a Republican representative. You give
them a call, let them know that you're standing behind
(16:34):
them all the way, and you expect them to fight
this with every single piece of strength that they have.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Well, and you hit on something earlier, you know they've
got to stand down there. They've got to keep they've
got to keep the testimony going in opposition of this bill,
and sometimes those phone calls from their supporters are what
helps them to get get across the finish line. I
think that's what you're trying to encourage those folks to do.
If you've got to, if you've got a Republican representative,
give them all the praise in the world and push,
(17:03):
push them forward, have them fight to fight. Am I correct?
Speaker 4 (17:06):
Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Well? You know, I don't know if we stand a
chance here. I you know, God willing, uh. You know,
the second amendal, a second amendment will prevail, but just
common sense should prevail. You know, the work that you
and the Rocky Mountain gun owners do down there is important.
I know sometimes you get vilified by both sides of
the aisle, but Ian, what what can listeners do to
(17:30):
help support you and Rocky Mountain gun owners in the future?
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Absolutely so, right now? Do I just said, call your
legislators on top of that, figure out where your county
sheriff stands on the Senate building. Sing because the sheriffs
are going to be the last line of defense to
resisting this tyranny. And call Jarrett pull us this office
and tell him, and if you're a Democrat, definitely call
(17:55):
him to say you're not going to stand for this.
You are not okay with this level of violation. Right
view dot org, slash awb and folent petition against Sennet
Bill three.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Thanks, I thanks Ian. You're listening to Dan Kaplis, so
Steve Raims as your guest host.
Speaker 6 (18:16):
You're listening to the Dan Kaplis Show podcast.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
You're back with the Dan Caplis Show. You have Well
County Sheriff Steve Riams standing in his guest host and
this is kind of a sheriff day. We had Sheriff
Mike Salon earlier in the show, and now we're going
to go to a good friend of mine. His name
is Dave Lucero. He happens to be the Pueblo County
sheriff and a unique part here something you don't get
a lot on the Dankplas Show. But we have a
Democrat sheriff that's that's calling in to be with us.
(18:41):
And I only point that out because we've been talking
about Senate Bill three and I know where Dave stands
on this bill. But before we start talking about that, Dave,
how are your guys doing, and how are the good
men and women of the Pueblo Police Department doing after
that incident today? What can you tell us about what happened?
Speaker 7 (18:55):
Well, sure, thanks for having me first of all, and
you know, the latest up it is that they are stable,
but they're not out of the woods yet, so certainly
we're praying for them and their families as they had
to experience this ordeal, as well as my men and
women that were involved in this is last night as well.
We have four of my staff members that were that
responded to assist the public Police Department, and thankfully they
(19:20):
were not injured, but it was a very scary situation.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
So we're glad.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
And just for the listeners, yeah, of course, describe if
you can. I know it's you got to be careful
about what you say, but I assume we had a
shooting incident down there with someone who was probably a
law abiding citizen who just misunderstood.
Speaker 7 (19:38):
Correct, No, that's completely yeah, the opposite.
Speaker 5 (19:43):
Yeah, what happened, Yeah, it was.
Speaker 7 (19:45):
You know, the information that we've obtained thus far is
that this is a general I shouldn't say gentlemen, I
don't want to use that word known gang member that
has a long criminal history, an extensive criminal history, that
decided to take it upon himself to use an illegal firearm,
and it'll open up fire on my deputies as well
(20:07):
as the public police officers injuring three of them, and
you know you ended up resulting with him being killed.
And you know, I'll take a line from the public
police she you know you play stupid games, you win
stuper prizes.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah, absolutely, And Dave, I know these are really tough
incidents to get through. You know, I'm not making light
of things, but when we're down at the state Capitol
we're talking about gun bills, it always goes back to,
you know, these bills are gonna are gonna stop crime.
And you just said so many things in that statement
about you you got a gang member. I'm sure he
had a criminal history. He's carrying a legal firearm or
(20:48):
probably something that's not legal to possess in the state
of Colorado to face whatever that may be. We just
have a whole host of criminal things that are occurring,
and we assume, or there's this assumption that if we
pass a gun law, well that's going to be the
thing that they decide to follow. And it's just it's
such ill fated. So let's transition to Senate Bill UH.
Senate Bill three, which is the heavy handed gun bill
(21:11):
we've been seeing down at the state legislature. And you know,
I've told some of the other callers. We've had quite
a few people on messaging or call in from from
your area saying, hey, we're not real happy about UH
Senate Bill three. And you know, they obviously are your constituents.
What are you hearing and what's your opinion of the bill?
Speaker 7 (21:28):
You know, so I'm hearing a lot. You know, Look,
folks down in Pueblo, law abiding citizens like to have
their firearms. You know, they they're already cost prohibited because
of the you know, just the sheer cost of owning
a firearm. So if they're able to purchase one and
go through a background check through CBI, through insta check,
(21:48):
you know, they're happy to have a firearm. You know,
which is is there absolute right?
Speaker 5 (21:54):
You know?
Speaker 7 (21:54):
Certainly I take exception with Cenate Bill three because this
does not solve any of the problems. It doesn't address criminality,
It doesn't address the criminals that are committing or perpetrating
these crimes. In my community. It merely punishes those folks
that are law abiding citizens that want to own a firearm.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Yeah, it seems so ill fated to me in light
of what you just went through last night. I mean,
let's just be very blunt. Would anything in Senate Bill
three do you believe have helped prevent what your, your
deputies and the Publo police officers faced last night.
Speaker 7 (22:29):
Now, this this was a gang member that obtained an
illegal weapon. He didn't go through the process. He didn't
go through a training course a Senate bill attempt Senate
Bill three attempts to do. He didn't have any of
that training. He didn't recertify every five years because he
couldn't because he couldn't possess a weapon lawfully in the
first place, because he was a previous felon. So this
(22:52):
does not address anything. It simply merely punishes those you
know that the lawbuying biting CITs that want to possess
a firem. The other thing I think, you know, from
a Democrat perspective, you know, I look out for poorer folks,
people that can't own a fim. This this bill almost
makes it like you have to be in a club
(23:14):
in your own private country club administered. And the other
thing I take exception too, is it puts it on
the sheriffs and requires us to then do an additional background. Look,
when you buy a firearm, when you transfer a firearm,
state law already allows for you to have those things
(23:35):
done with insta check and CBI. You know, CBI just
expanded last year in the state legislature with the ten
additional folks that are going to their specialized firearm unit
to have some checks and balances.
Speaker 8 (23:48):
You know.
Speaker 7 (23:50):
My my personal opinion is we should wait and see
if that legislation that passed last year has any effect,
if it strengthens, if it strengthens or reduces crimes and communities.
But this bill, it just puts further restrictions for the
requirements on the on the sheriffs, the local sheriffs and CPW,
(24:12):
you know, to to make this happen.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Yeah, the term unfunded mandate has been thrown around quite
a bit, and you're you're saying the same thing without
using the same words.
Speaker 5 (24:23):
Dave.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
I appreciate you coming on. I know that you're going
through a lot with your agency. I told you i'd
keep it brief so that you could get back to
the work that you need to do. I just couldn't
be more appreciative of you coming on and again I
appreciate a brother sheriff standing up for the Second Amendment
and standing up for his constituents. Is there anything you
want to say before we let you go?
Speaker 7 (24:42):
You know, I would just share that there's not a
sheriff in the state of Colorado that I believe that
I've heard from that is supporting Senate Bill three. You know,
we don't want to accept amendments to this. They haven't
proposed amendments and we would be willing to even consider. So,
I mean, if they're going to draw a line in
(25:03):
the sand, I'm going to draw a line in the
shand because I know this only hurts the people that
want to lawfully possess a fire.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
You couldn't have said it better, Dave. Thanks again, and
you know, best wishes to all your officers and your deputies.
Uh you know we we we appreciate you upholding the
rule of law and providing safety there in your county
and your city. So thanks again, Dave, Thanks for being
on with us.
Speaker 7 (25:24):
Thank you, sir.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
We got just a little bit of time left in
this segment. We've had a caller waiting forever, and I'm
so apologetic to Doug from Canyon City. Doug, if you're
still with us, let's get you on the Let's get
you on the on the airwaves.
Speaker 5 (25:37):
Doug.
Speaker 8 (25:38):
Oh, Hi, sheriff. How are you doing, sir?
Speaker 5 (25:40):
I'm doing great. What do you got for us?
Speaker 8 (25:43):
Well, you know, I've been listening. I'm listening to Daran
Cappens all the time. You know, there's so many logs
on the books already for firearms.
Speaker 5 (25:52):
Yeah, no kidding.
Speaker 8 (25:53):
If you don't commit a crime, if you don't commit
a crime to the firearm, then you should you should
be able to own a firearm.
Speaker 5 (26:00):
And yeah, that's a great idea.
Speaker 8 (26:03):
And you know the illegal you know, people that aren't
supposed to have them convicted felons. They're going to get him.
They're going to get him. I don't care what you do,
they're going to get him. And you know what, these
laws that these democrats are trying to push through, they
make no sense. My father was a state trooper in
(26:25):
Los Angeles County, Colorado, thank you. And I grew up
with a state trooper and I have I have respect
for law enforcement and you've got damn Democrats. They want
to they want to they don't want to ship out
the illegals. They back, you know, the corruption. They don't
want to get the AI D I mean, what what's
going on? Have you guys lost your mind?
Speaker 2 (26:47):
You know, Doug, I appreciate the call in. You know,
I don't think common sense can be used when you're
having these debates.
Speaker 5 (26:53):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
You know, I've been down at the state Capitol so
many times talking about these gun laws and it just,
you know, logic never prevailed. It's always emotion. But thank
you for staying on the line so long, and thank
you for hanging in with us again. You know, it's
good to have those loyal listeners and Dan had definitely
has a fan base. So we'll cut to break. You're
listening to the Dan Kaplas Show. We've got Steve Reams
the Well Kenny Sheriff as your guest.
Speaker 6 (27:15):
Host, and now back to the Dan Kaplas Show podcast.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
So we're in the final segment of the Dan Kaplis Show.
You've got Steve Reams Well County Sheriff as the guest host.
The end of day two and Ryan comes in with
that music.
Speaker 9 (27:43):
Yeah, well, now this is going to leave you to
a question. As I told you during the break, Yeah,
you're afraid a lot of people watch these shows, you know, religiously,
like Law and Order SVU.
Speaker 6 (27:52):
Sure, all these cop dramas. How many of them do
you go?
Speaker 9 (27:55):
You know what, They've got a pretty good handle on
how this all goes down, and how many You're.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Like, come on, so you know, I have to I
have to be honest. This is one of those shows
that while they crunch it down into a very short
amount of time, you know, a case just blazes through
the legal system. They're pretty on point. Yeah, this one's
not as far fetched as like SWAT, which if my
wife is listening, I hope she's she's really listening right
now because I hate that show and her and my
(28:19):
son watch it together.
Speaker 5 (28:20):
It makes my teeth hitch.
Speaker 8 (28:21):
That's a cs I my suck.
Speaker 5 (28:24):
Oh, it's awful.
Speaker 9 (28:25):
Think Caruso putting on the sunglasses and the who coming
in come on.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
I can't tell you how many times when I was
still working the street and that show just just came on.
Working the street sounds bad. I'm a law enforcement officer.
When I was when I was working as a deputy still,
you know, you've got to process a crime scene and
someone would say, well, can't you just get out the
fingerprint scanner And it's like, oh, my gosh, you've been
watching CSI.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
I mean it just it's it's mind numbing.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
But there's a few shows that I think are pretty
close to reality. I mean, you know, for what you
can do on TV NYPD Blue was actually another one
back in the day, and the character that they represented there,
they represented a lot of people that in their downtime. Yeah,
it's pretty close to life too. I mean there's there's
some definite problems that sometimes plague officers in their off
(29:10):
duty times.
Speaker 5 (29:11):
So yeah, there's a few. I don't I don't watch
a lot of cop shows.
Speaker 6 (29:14):
I can't.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
I can't stand the actual show Cops. It it drives
me crazy. So you know, but you get it.
Speaker 9 (29:20):
Did you ever work with a guy like Dennis friends
as Sipowitz?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Actually yes, he reminds me of a very specific person.
I won't say his name on radio, but yeah, he
knows who he is, so if he's listening. So we
had some really smart texts that came in one of them.
You know, I never thought about putting it this way.
But when it comes to these fentanyl bills that the
(29:45):
text says fentanyl bills should state that every survivor is
a taxpayer, which makes sense, you know, like you you
make the drug illegal, you keep people alive, they tend
to keep paying taxes the other way around. It gets
really expensive if all the people flowed in the state
die of using this drug. And then another one here says,
you're really good at this radio thing, my friend, that's
(30:07):
probably way too kind. I've enjoyed listening for the past
couple of days. This person is definitely a glutton for punishment,
and it says I encourage you to take some time
off when you quote unquote expire. That's where I was like,
well man, that's harsh.
Speaker 5 (30:22):
I am term.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Limited in my seat as the Weld County Sheriff, so
I will expire if you will, in one year, nine months,
and seventeen days. But who's counting, you know, I'm not
telling you that I look forward to it more than
I should. But twelve years will be a long run
and we'll see if we'll see what's on the other
side of that. I keep telling people I have to
(30:44):
figure out what I'm going to do when I grow up.
I think the hardest part there is saying that you're
going to grow up, so you know, for whatever that's worth.
Speaker 9 (30:50):
If I could make a suggestion, oh boy, I think
you have done well in this realm, and I'll say
this definitively, which is you are doing this a far
better deal, far more, far better than I would have
done your job just stepping into a share.
Speaker 5 (31:03):
Okay, that's fair.
Speaker 9 (31:04):
Of thing, But I think you would make, for what
we were just talking about, kind of an interesting host
of a podcast that kind of takes us behind the
scenes of law enforcement with your first hand experiences.
Speaker 6 (31:15):
That'd be fascinating to me. And I tuned in.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
I've told people for a long time I could write
a book about I mean the stuff I've seen and
the stuff I've experienced, as most people in law enforcement could,
whether it's you know, the cases that we see, or
it's the personalities that you deal with in law enforcement, because,
believe it or not, Type A personalities that are drawn
to law enforcement often oftentimes have a lot of quirks,
myself included. And when you put all those people in
(31:39):
this big p tradition, then you feed them to the
world of law enforcement. It's a heck of a show
to watch. But if I wrote that book, I think
most people would think it was a work of fiction
because they would just not believe that stuff could actually happen.
Speaker 9 (31:50):
My question for you, as a shriff, there's so many
moving parts I have to imagine see that you have
had to deal with. What is the biggest factor that
you've encountered in and keeping morale of everybody that reports
to you intact?
Speaker 2 (32:04):
You know, the onslaught of the police reform bills is
I mean, I don't even know how to codify that
as one thing, but you know this constant narrative in
the state of Colorado that we've seen over the last
you know, six seven years that law enforcement is bad
and criminals are the victims of our efforts. That movement.
I don't know how it happened. I don't know when
(32:25):
it happened, but I know it's a disgusting trend that
it needs to stop. At one point, the Democrats now
at the state Legislature were very much pro victim They
cared about victims rights. They and rightfully so, we should
all care about victims. We wanted to restore victims. We
wanted to look out for him, and now it's kind
of like, hey, yeah, you know they're victims, but you know,
(32:45):
how do we fix the criminal? How do we make
the criminal whole? Even to some of the news breaks
we've heard where the murder of Denver police officer Donnie
Young's is already looking at getting out on parole potentially
he got an eighty years sentence and he's looking at
getting out of prison. I mean, that's just there's no
justification for that whatsoever, except for the people down at
(33:08):
the State House keep passing this nonsense, and that stuff
is pretty it's pretty hard in the law enforcement ranks.
But I'll tell you this, most of the people that
get into this job have a desire to serve. Their
relentless and their need and their desire to protect their communities,
even if it means, even if it means we arrest
the same person over and over and over again until
(33:29):
we finally get him to a place where they can't reoffend.
That's all it matters. And you know, it's all about
keeping the community safe. And we have in my agency specifically,
I can speak for that. I have some of the
best men and women that you could possibly ask for,
and they do God's work every day. It's been it's
been a complete joy to be the Sheriff of Weald
County for all this time, you know, twenty seven years
(33:52):
in the agency, in the last ten as sheriff. Two
more to go, well just shive to We'll see how
that plays out. But it's been a pleasure to set
in this seat for the last day two now, I
guess you know, I got a chance to work with you, Ryan,
I got a chance to find out that Kelly is
probably a communist because she doesn't like bacon or chocolate, right,
(34:12):
but we won't hold it against her. She's just she's
just a little nuts.
Speaker 6 (34:16):
She's just gonna say, you're at the best.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Well I am calling it, yes, ma'am. That's been. It's
been great. I couldn't wish for more. And you know,
I hope we get a chance to fill in again
sometime in the future.
Speaker 6 (34:29):
I think my popular demand you will be.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
That sounds like a great idea. So again, signing off
here on the Dan Caplas show, This is well Kenny
Sheriff Steve Raims, and it's been an honor to fill
in for the Great Dan kaplis and work with Ryan
and Kelly as they keep me on the rails. Thanks again,
we'll see you next time.
This is Dan Capless and welcome to today's online podcast
edition of The Dan Caplis Show. Please be sure to
give us a five star rating if you'd be so kind,
and to subscribe, download and listen to the show every
single day on your favorite podcast platform.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome back to hour two of The Dan Capless Show.
You've got Steve raems Well Kenny Sheriff as your guest
host today day number two here in the seat, and
man it flies. We've already been through that first hour
and we'll be cueuing up our guests here in just
a few moments. But before we do that, I just
want to throw out the phone number for anybody wants
to call in three oh three seven one three eight
two five five, or you can text the studio at
(00:35):
five seven seven three nine. Just start your text out
with Dan. And before we get to our guests, I
just want to I post to the listeners if you
have a candidate for governor that you'd like to see run,
text it in, call it in. We've got a few votes.
Alexi says, I think Dan Caples should do it, but
he won't because his wife won't let him. And then
we got a vote for George Brockler, hands down would
(00:57):
be one of the best, although I would hate to
lose him as our and I can tell you I
don't think George has it anim to run for governor,
just from my own personal knowledge of him, not because
he couldn't do it, but I think he just doesn't
want to run for a state wide race again, and
he's an awesome district attorney. And then one other Texter
says that the legislature really wants to crack down on guns,
they should crack down on people on people buying and
(01:19):
selling them illegally on Snapchat, especially when it comes to
dealing with juveniles. Apparently they have some personal information there
from working in the juvenile justice system, so I'm sure
that's a problem. As a law enforcement officer, I can
tell you there's a whole lot of ways for kids
and other people to get guns illegally and they don't
follow the law. Having set all that up, let's get
to our next guest, which is State Senator Byron Pelton.
(01:42):
He's the Minority Caucus chair, and he's the senator out
of Senate District one, which I think represents like, I
don't know, a quarter of the state. But with US
now is Byron Pelton. Byron, thanks for joining the show.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Thanks for having me, Sheriff. I think I can I
have a vote on the governor. Yeah, let's hear it's
let's let's run you for governor.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
How's that?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I think you're crazy? You know, it's okay. Everybody. Everybody
can have an opinion.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
You know.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I was saying yesterday that running for office ages you
and dog years, which you should know. And I think
being in law enforcement does that twice as fast. And
I don't know if running for another office is in
my blood, but I'm not ruling anything out at this point.
So well, Byron again, thanks for coming on the show.
It's a pleasure to have you. If you would. Yeah,
(02:31):
I know you've had a little bit of a history
in politics County commissioner, kind of moved your way through
that and then ran for Senate District one. Tell us
a little bit about your history and kind of the
area that you represent before we dive into some of
the stuff you're doing down at the Capitol.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Well, I represent seven counties and that's Phillips, Sedwick, Washington, Uma,
Logan Morgan, and the majority of world.
Speaker 5 (02:57):
And you're my senator.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Yes, I'm your senator, that is correct, and six of
those counties are in the top ten haag producing counties.
I grew up farming and ranching with my family down
in shi and Wells, Colorado, out in the middle of nowhere,
and then my wife and I well and then when
I moved up to Sterling, and my wife and I
decided that we would buy some cattle, so we have
(03:22):
a small cow calf operation. And then I'm a master electrician,
so that pays for my cattle habit. And that's what
she says, et lad and I served as a county
commissioner for six years in Logan County, and during those
six years, five out of those six years we made
sure that our roads and bridges and law enforcement was
(03:44):
taken care of. But then I also voted five out
of six years to cut our mill levy back a
little bit because we had such a huge surplus that
after we gave raises to folks and after we fixed
our roads and stuff, we wanted to make sure that
we were able to give a little bit back to
our citizens. And so I mean that's I mean, we
(04:05):
got to remember who puts us here. It's always the
citizens and that's why I looked at it.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I mean responsibly using taxpayer dollars. I mean that's unheard of.
You know, they happen to do that in Weld County two,
which you know, I wish it could be contagious and
come down to the state House. But as you know,
we're like over a billion dollars upside down on the
budget right now, and I don't see that correcting itself
without a lot of gnashing of teeth and of course
(04:29):
cutting important programs and hanging on to the ones that
aren't so important. With that said, at the start of
the legislature, you were proposing a bill that I think
would correct a lot of the problems that they're spending
money on right now, and that's the fentanyl crisis. Tell
us a little bit about this bill that you push
forward and why it was so important to you, and
how fentanyl affects everything downstream in your life as a senator.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Well, here, so I came up with a fed bill
because the drug problem in northeast Colorado is so bad
and as well you know, yes, sir, And the part
the reason why the fendyl crisis is so important is
to me is because while I was a county commissioner.
We had a family who overdosed and it wasn't just
(05:22):
a family, it was just a mom and dad, but
they left three children that the county had to then
take care of and it was a horrible situation.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
And so.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
I was laser focused on doing something about drugs. My
first year, we did something about We tried to do
something about drugs, and that barely got out of the
Senate and then failed in the House. Then my second
year we worked on another drug bill and it didn't
even get out of the House. So this is my
third year, and I wanted to focus on fentanyl, and
(05:55):
I just wanted to say, guys, the finel crisis is
killing people by the droves. I mean people are dying
in Colorado. It's the number one cause of death between
of ages. I think it's like eighteen and thirty five
or something like that in the nation. And I wanted
to do something about it. So my fentanyl what my
fentanyl builds said was that if you sold Sentinel to
(06:18):
somebody and they died, you were going to be held
with a class for felony. And then if you got
caught with Sentinel, you're going to be held to a
class or I'm sorry, the fentanyl died. You were going
to be held with a class one fella drug felony.
And then if you were if you were in possession
of it with the intent to distribute, which we were
(06:40):
trying to sell it, which we put the onus on
the district attorney to prove that they were selling it.
That you were going to get a class for felony
and we're going to put you behind bars with no approbation.
Speaker 5 (06:51):
Which is so logical. You're going to do so logical.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
You're going after the dealers, you're going after the people
peddling that stuff on the street. And what happened And
when that thing started moving through the legislature and got
to its first committee, let me guess party line vote.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
No, I had one Democrat side with me.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Oh amazing, a strict attorney, so someone with a little
bit of sense about how the law works.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Yes, it still died because it's still a lopsided committee,
which it's only got two Republicans and five Democrats.
Speaker 5 (07:28):
That's totally fair.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Four to three vote yes, Yeah, that is correct. The
thing that they kept bringing up to me over and
over and over again is do you realize how much
is this going to cost by putting these people in jail?
And I said, I don't care, because it's going to
be saving lots.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yeah, do you know how much it costs to bury
all these people? And yeah, the cost of Fentanel on
the state isn't It isn't putting people in prison. It's
the damage that it's doing to our communities. I mean,
walk outside the capitol watch all these people in drug
induced comas and tell me that's not costing the state something.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Right exactly. I mean, and drugs is a perfect example
of all the crime that happens up here in northeast Colorado.
At one time, Jarriff, we had like center pivot sprinklers
where all the copper was being stolen off the center
pivot sprinklers.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
Yeah, anything that can be recycled.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Anything can be recycled. Or they would drive around and
steal gas and diesel from farmers because out here, you know,
we don't walk our stuff, but now we are because
of the crime, because people come in and steal that
stuff and sell it and then buy drugs with it.
And I mean, it's just an ever evolving thing where
drugs you're trying to get your next hit. You're trying
(08:44):
to get your next score, and you're doing everything to
do that and stealing from people, and it just isn't right.
And so I went after what was causing the problem,
and that was the drug dealers, because that's what I
wanted to target, was the drug dealers, and I got
shot down.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Well, we have just a few seconds left, so I'll
make this quick. But is there any way that this
budget process gets through without us seeing some really ugly
cuts that to really important things? Are they going to
make the right cuts?
Speaker 3 (09:18):
I think that we have Senator Kirkmeyer on the JBC,
which is going to be excellent and she's going to
do her best, but I still think we're going to
see some ugly cuts in some places.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Unfortunately, I think when the Democrats start prioritizing things, they
don't prioritize the things that matter to us. So, Byron,
thanks for coming on with us. It's always a pleasure
to talk with you. You're a common sense guy that you
have such a good nature about yourself, and you go
down there every day with a smile on your face.
You may not leave with one, but you go down
there every day to do the Lord's work, So we
appreciate having you on and again, keep fighting that fight.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Thanks Cher, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
You're listening to the Dan Kaplas Show with guest hosts
Steve Riems filling in and it's a pleasure to have
you all listening.
Speaker 6 (10:00):
And now back to the Dan Kaplas Show podcast.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Welcome back to the Dankapleas Show. Is Steve rings Welkinny
Sheriff as your guest host, and I'm sure that song
was brought in in special honor of our next guest.
I'm sure he's a huge fan. On the line with us,
we have the executive director of the Rocky Mountain Gun
Owners Ian Escalante. Ian, I'm sure you're calling us from
the state Capitol. Are on your way there or on
your way back? Something like that? How you doing tonight?
Speaker 4 (10:25):
Doing good? Thank you sharing for having me on. How
are you?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
You know I'd be a lot better if this legislative
session would end? And I'm sure you probably think the
same way. But let's dive right into it. What's happening
down there when it comes to gun bills. We're all
here in Senate Bill three, but I think there's a
lot more on the hot plate fill us.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
In absolutely so. First off, obviously, we have Senate Bill THREI,
one of the worst gun bills ever filed in US history.
On top of that, we're looking at about eleven to
twelve other bills that they're trying to ram through, and
that ranges from forcing federal money laundering to come through
(11:04):
Colorado to anti gun organizations, forcing the law enforcement to
destroy weapons that they confiscate or surplus weapons instead of
auctioning them all right, baning it twenty adults under twenty
one from purchasing ammunition, teaching children in school how to
(11:27):
red flag their parents.
Speaker 5 (11:29):
What could go wrong.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Complete and total train wreck is really the only way
I described as legislative sessions.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Yeah, you know, I've told many people that, you know,
we've got some extremes on both sides of the part
of both sides of each party that are that are
represented down at the state House, but far more stacked
on the on the Democrat side, to the point that
I don't even know if most Democrats can identify with
some of the stuff that they're pushing through. Yet it
keeps passing. Even with Senate bel three, we saw an
(12:00):
extremely radical bill that basically got rewritten a couple of
times to something that I guess is considered palatable potentially
by the governor. Do you think that bill stands chance
of being signed by the governor? Do you think the
governor holds his nose and says, nah, I just can't
get there. I'm going to veto this. Where do you
think that one goes in?
Speaker 4 (12:20):
So I really don't know. The Governor, as per usual,
has a silent on Senate Bill three and kind of
talked out of both sides of his mouth. He's done that.
He does do that with very controversial issues, a typical
politician fashion. Right now, we're really focused on killing this
bill in the House of Representative, so we are expecting
(12:43):
a second reading vote on Friday, okay, and the listeners
who are not masochistic like me, and they don't dive
into legislative procedure. A bill has to go through a
certain amount of stages each chamber before it can pass.
But first reading is is the committee. It goes through
(13:05):
a couple of committees, then it goes to second reading
where it's debated and amended, and then it goes to
third reading and final passes where they actually vote the
bill out of the chamber, so second reading will be
the time for us and the Conservatives and the pro
gun champions in the state legislature really shine and hold
(13:25):
that floor for as long as possible. There are a
lot of solid representatives from Weld County and we are
expecting them to stay strong fight against this.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Bill, even if it means they.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Have to stay there all night, even if it means
getting punished by the other side by having to come
in on a weekend. We have to make sure that
our folks on the Republican side of the aisle are
ready and willing to fight, and that's what we're what
we're working on right now. And on top of that,
to your point, I think we're going to see a
(14:00):
lot of Democrats break from their party and vote against this.
I mean, we saw a bill that would pretty much
regulate gun shows out of existence sure barely pass out
of the House right hate Democrats voted now only passed
by two votes. So we're keeping the pressure up right
now as we speak, we have arm gu volunteers knocking
(14:20):
doors in the districts of these representatives and telling their
constituents what they're voting on.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Well, We've had some Texters and some callers from around
the state, but most notably from down in the Pueblo
area and express some concern about Senate Bill three for sure,
And you know, I don't know that I don't know
that the Democrats at the State House understand. There are
Democrats that love their guns, and Pueblo is one of
those communities that's very strong on gun rights. In fact,
we're going to have the sheriff from Pueblo on following
(14:48):
your segment, who's going to come on and talk about
his I shouldn't say support of the bill. He hates
the bill. He's going to come on and talk about
where he stands with the rest of us of trying
to get rid of this thing. But also, they just
had a shooting in Pueblo and he's talking about how
this bill would do nothing to change what happened down
there because it's only affecting law abiding citizens and that
(15:11):
is where things keep going wrong. If the listeners out
there could do anything to help the Republicans fight this
or to help sway Democrats, what would you suggest are there?
Do you have some numbers they could call, Is there
an email that they could send? What helps move the
needle for you.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
You the only thing that moves the needle. Here is
demonstrable proof of angry voters. So, if you live in
a place like Pueblo or the Saint Luis Valley or
the Western Slope or even areas in northern Colorado, then
you have a Democrat representative. You can go to Colledge
(15:50):
dot gov, CEO l e G dot gov. Then you
can click find my legislator. There's a tab that you
can click and it'll pull up a map and you
can put in your address and it'll generate who your
house rep is. So, if it's a Democrat, get on
(16:12):
their phone lines, let them know you're not going to
stand for this, and urge them to vote against this
terrible bill. If you live in a Republican area like
Weld County or somewhere on the Eastern Plains or somewhere
down south, you probably have a Republican representative. You give
them a call, let them know that you're standing behind
(16:34):
them all the way, and you expect them to fight
this with every single piece of strength that they have.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Well, and you hit on something earlier, you know they've
got to stand down there. They've got to keep they've
got to keep the testimony going in opposition of this bill,
and sometimes those phone calls from their supporters are what
helps them to get get across the finish line. I
think that's what you're trying to encourage those folks to do.
If you've got to, if you've got a Republican representative,
give them all the praise in the world and push,
(17:03):
push them forward, have them fight to fight. Am I correct?
Speaker 4 (17:06):
Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Well? You know, I don't know if we stand a
chance here. I you know, God willing, uh. You know,
the second amendal, a second amendment will prevail, but just
common sense should prevail. You know, the work that you
and the Rocky Mountain gun owners do down there is important.
I know sometimes you get vilified by both sides of
the aisle, but Ian, what what can listeners do to
(17:30):
help support you and Rocky Mountain gun owners in the future?
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Absolutely so, right now? Do I just said, call your
legislators on top of that, figure out where your county
sheriff stands on the Senate building. Sing because the sheriffs
are going to be the last line of defense to
resisting this tyranny. And call Jarrett pull us this office
and tell him, and if you're a Democrat, definitely call
(17:55):
him to say you're not going to stand for this.
You are not okay with this level of violation. Right
view dot org, slash awb and folent petition against Sennet
Bill three.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Thanks, I thanks Ian. You're listening to Dan Kaplis, so
Steve Raims as your guest host.
Speaker 6 (18:16):
You're listening to the Dan Kaplis Show podcast.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
You're back with the Dan Caplis Show. You have Well
County Sheriff Steve Riams standing in his guest host and
this is kind of a sheriff day. We had Sheriff
Mike Salon earlier in the show, and now we're going
to go to a good friend of mine. His name
is Dave Lucero. He happens to be the Pueblo County
sheriff and a unique part here something you don't get
a lot on the Dankplas Show. But we have a
Democrat sheriff that's that's calling in to be with us.
(18:41):
And I only point that out because we've been talking
about Senate Bill three and I know where Dave stands
on this bill. But before we start talking about that, Dave,
how are your guys doing, and how are the good
men and women of the Pueblo Police Department doing after
that incident today? What can you tell us about what happened?
Speaker 7 (18:55):
Well, sure, thanks for having me first of all, and
you know, the latest up it is that they are stable,
but they're not out of the woods yet, so certainly
we're praying for them and their families as they had
to experience this ordeal, as well as my men and
women that were involved in this is last night as well.
We have four of my staff members that were that
responded to assist the public Police Department, and thankfully they
(19:20):
were not injured, but it was a very scary situation.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
So we're glad.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
And just for the listeners, yeah, of course, describe if
you can. I know it's you got to be careful
about what you say, but I assume we had a
shooting incident down there with someone who was probably a
law abiding citizen who just misunderstood.
Speaker 7 (19:38):
Correct, No, that's completely yeah, the opposite.
Speaker 5 (19:43):
Yeah, what happened, Yeah, it was.
Speaker 7 (19:45):
You know, the information that we've obtained thus far is
that this is a general I shouldn't say gentlemen, I
don't want to use that word known gang member that
has a long criminal history, an extensive criminal history, that
decided to take it upon himself to use an illegal firearm,
and it'll open up fire on my deputies as well
(20:07):
as the public police officers injuring three of them, and
you know you ended up resulting with him being killed.
And you know, I'll take a line from the public
police she you know you play stupid games, you win
stuper prizes.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah, absolutely, And Dave, I know these are really tough
incidents to get through. You know, I'm not making light
of things, but when we're down at the state Capitol
we're talking about gun bills, it always goes back to,
you know, these bills are gonna are gonna stop crime.
And you just said so many things in that statement
about you you got a gang member. I'm sure he
had a criminal history. He's carrying a legal firearm or
(20:48):
probably something that's not legal to possess in the state
of Colorado to face whatever that may be. We just
have a whole host of criminal things that are occurring,
and we assume, or there's this assumption that if we
pass a gun law, well that's going to be the
thing that they decide to follow. And it's just it's
such ill fated. So let's transition to Senate Bill UH.
Senate Bill three, which is the heavy handed gun bill
(21:11):
we've been seeing down at the state legislature. And you know,
I've told some of the other callers. We've had quite
a few people on messaging or call in from from
your area saying, hey, we're not real happy about UH
Senate Bill three. And you know, they obviously are your constituents.
What are you hearing and what's your opinion of the bill?
Speaker 7 (21:28):
You know, so I'm hearing a lot. You know, Look,
folks down in Pueblo, law abiding citizens like to have
their firearms. You know, they they're already cost prohibited because
of the you know, just the sheer cost of owning
a firearm. So if they're able to purchase one and
go through a background check through CBI, through insta check,
(21:48):
you know, they're happy to have a firearm. You know,
which is is there absolute right?
Speaker 5 (21:54):
You know?
Speaker 7 (21:54):
Certainly I take exception with Cenate Bill three because this
does not solve any of the problems. It doesn't address criminality,
It doesn't address the criminals that are committing or perpetrating
these crimes. In my community. It merely punishes those folks
that are law abiding citizens that want to own a firearm.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Yeah, it seems so ill fated to me in light
of what you just went through last night. I mean,
let's just be very blunt. Would anything in Senate Bill
three do you believe have helped prevent what your, your
deputies and the Publo police officers faced last night.
Speaker 7 (22:29):
Now, this this was a gang member that obtained an
illegal weapon. He didn't go through the process. He didn't
go through a training course a Senate bill attempt Senate
Bill three attempts to do. He didn't have any of
that training. He didn't recertify every five years because he
couldn't because he couldn't possess a weapon lawfully in the
first place, because he was a previous felon. So this
(22:52):
does not address anything. It simply merely punishes those you
know that the lawbuying biting CITs that want to possess
a firem. The other thing I think, you know, from
a Democrat perspective, you know, I look out for poorer folks,
people that can't own a fim. This this bill almost
makes it like you have to be in a club
(23:14):
in your own private country club administered. And the other
thing I take exception too, is it puts it on
the sheriffs and requires us to then do an additional background. Look,
when you buy a firearm, when you transfer a firearm,
state law already allows for you to have those things
(23:35):
done with insta check and CBI. You know, CBI just
expanded last year in the state legislature with the ten
additional folks that are going to their specialized firearm unit
to have some checks and balances.
Speaker 8 (23:48):
You know.
Speaker 7 (23:50):
My my personal opinion is we should wait and see
if that legislation that passed last year has any effect,
if it strengthens, if it strengthens or reduces crimes and communities.
But this bill, it just puts further restrictions for the
requirements on the on the sheriffs, the local sheriffs and CPW,
(24:12):
you know, to to make this happen.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Yeah, the term unfunded mandate has been thrown around quite
a bit, and you're you're saying the same thing without
using the same words.
Speaker 5 (24:23):
Dave.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
I appreciate you coming on. I know that you're going
through a lot with your agency. I told you i'd
keep it brief so that you could get back to
the work that you need to do. I just couldn't
be more appreciative of you coming on and again I
appreciate a brother sheriff standing up for the Second Amendment
and standing up for his constituents. Is there anything you
want to say before we let you go?
Speaker 7 (24:42):
You know, I would just share that there's not a
sheriff in the state of Colorado that I believe that
I've heard from that is supporting Senate Bill three. You know,
we don't want to accept amendments to this. They haven't
proposed amendments and we would be willing to even consider. So,
I mean, if they're going to draw a line in
(25:03):
the sand, I'm going to draw a line in the
shand because I know this only hurts the people that
want to lawfully possess a fire.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
You couldn't have said it better, Dave. Thanks again, and
you know, best wishes to all your officers and your deputies.
Uh you know we we we appreciate you upholding the
rule of law and providing safety there in your county
and your city. So thanks again, Dave, Thanks for being
on with us.
Speaker 7 (25:24):
Thank you, sir.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
We got just a little bit of time left in
this segment. We've had a caller waiting forever, and I'm
so apologetic to Doug from Canyon City. Doug, if you're
still with us, let's get you on the Let's get
you on the on the airwaves.
Speaker 5 (25:37):
Doug.
Speaker 8 (25:38):
Oh, Hi, sheriff. How are you doing, sir?
Speaker 5 (25:40):
I'm doing great. What do you got for us?
Speaker 8 (25:43):
Well, you know, I've been listening. I'm listening to Daran
Cappens all the time. You know, there's so many logs
on the books already for firearms.
Speaker 5 (25:52):
Yeah, no kidding.
Speaker 8 (25:53):
If you don't commit a crime, if you don't commit
a crime to the firearm, then you should you should
be able to own a firearm.
Speaker 5 (26:00):
And yeah, that's a great idea.
Speaker 8 (26:03):
And you know the illegal you know, people that aren't
supposed to have them convicted felons. They're going to get him.
They're going to get him. I don't care what you do,
they're going to get him. And you know what, these
laws that these democrats are trying to push through, they
make no sense. My father was a state trooper in
(26:25):
Los Angeles County, Colorado, thank you. And I grew up
with a state trooper and I have I have respect
for law enforcement and you've got damn Democrats. They want
to they want to they don't want to ship out
the illegals. They back, you know, the corruption. They don't
want to get the AI D I mean, what what's
going on? Have you guys lost your mind?
Speaker 2 (26:47):
You know, Doug, I appreciate the call in. You know,
I don't think common sense can be used when you're
having these debates.
Speaker 5 (26:53):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
You know, I've been down at the state Capitol so
many times talking about these gun laws and it just,
you know, logic never prevailed. It's always emotion. But thank
you for staying on the line so long, and thank
you for hanging in with us again. You know, it's
good to have those loyal listeners and Dan had definitely
has a fan base. So we'll cut to break. You're
listening to the Dan Kaplas Show. We've got Steve Reams
the Well Kenny Sheriff as your guest.
Speaker 6 (27:15):
Host, and now back to the Dan Kaplas Show podcast.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
So we're in the final segment of the Dan Kaplis Show.
You've got Steve Reams Well County Sheriff as the guest host.
The end of day two and Ryan comes in with
that music.
Speaker 9 (27:43):
Yeah, well, now this is going to leave you to
a question. As I told you during the break, Yeah,
you're afraid a lot of people watch these shows, you know, religiously,
like Law and Order SVU.
Speaker 6 (27:52):
Sure, all these cop dramas. How many of them do
you go?
Speaker 9 (27:55):
You know what, They've got a pretty good handle on
how this all goes down, and how many You're.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Like, come on, so you know, I have to I
have to be honest. This is one of those shows
that while they crunch it down into a very short
amount of time, you know, a case just blazes through
the legal system. They're pretty on point. Yeah, this one's
not as far fetched as like SWAT, which if my
wife is listening, I hope she's she's really listening right
now because I hate that show and her and my
(28:19):
son watch it together.
Speaker 5 (28:20):
It makes my teeth hitch.
Speaker 8 (28:21):
That's a cs I my suck.
Speaker 5 (28:24):
Oh, it's awful.
Speaker 9 (28:25):
Think Caruso putting on the sunglasses and the who coming
in come on.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
I can't tell you how many times when I was
still working the street and that show just just came on.
Working the street sounds bad. I'm a law enforcement officer.
When I was when I was working as a deputy still,
you know, you've got to process a crime scene and
someone would say, well, can't you just get out the
fingerprint scanner And it's like, oh, my gosh, you've been
watching CSI.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
I mean it just it's it's mind numbing.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
But there's a few shows that I think are pretty
close to reality. I mean, you know, for what you
can do on TV NYPD Blue was actually another one
back in the day, and the character that they represented there,
they represented a lot of people that in their downtime. Yeah,
it's pretty close to life too. I mean there's there's
some definite problems that sometimes plague officers in their off
(29:10):
duty times.
Speaker 5 (29:11):
So yeah, there's a few. I don't I don't watch
a lot of cop shows.
Speaker 6 (29:14):
I can't.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
I can't stand the actual show Cops. It it drives
me crazy. So you know, but you get it.
Speaker 9 (29:20):
Did you ever work with a guy like Dennis friends
as Sipowitz?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Actually yes, he reminds me of a very specific person.
I won't say his name on radio, but yeah, he
knows who he is, so if he's listening. So we
had some really smart texts that came in one of them.
You know, I never thought about putting it this way.
But when it comes to these fentanyl bills that the
(29:45):
text says fentanyl bills should state that every survivor is
a taxpayer, which makes sense, you know, like you you
make the drug illegal, you keep people alive, they tend
to keep paying taxes the other way around. It gets
really expensive if all the people flowed in the state
die of using this drug. And then another one here says,
you're really good at this radio thing, my friend, that's
(30:07):
probably way too kind. I've enjoyed listening for the past
couple of days. This person is definitely a glutton for punishment,
and it says I encourage you to take some time
off when you quote unquote expire. That's where I was like,
well man, that's harsh.
Speaker 5 (30:22):
I am term.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Limited in my seat as the Weld County Sheriff, so
I will expire if you will, in one year, nine months,
and seventeen days. But who's counting, you know, I'm not
telling you that I look forward to it more than
I should. But twelve years will be a long run
and we'll see if we'll see what's on the other
side of that. I keep telling people I have to
(30:44):
figure out what I'm going to do when I grow up.
I think the hardest part there is saying that you're
going to grow up, so you know, for whatever that's worth.
Speaker 9 (30:50):
If I could make a suggestion, oh boy, I think
you have done well in this realm, and I'll say
this definitively, which is you are doing this a far
better deal, far more, far better than I would have
done your job just stepping into a share.
Speaker 5 (31:03):
Okay, that's fair.
Speaker 9 (31:04):
Of thing, But I think you would make, for what
we were just talking about, kind of an interesting host
of a podcast that kind of takes us behind the
scenes of law enforcement with your first hand experiences.
Speaker 6 (31:15):
That'd be fascinating to me. And I tuned in.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
I've told people for a long time I could write
a book about I mean the stuff I've seen and
the stuff I've experienced, as most people in law enforcement could,
whether it's you know, the cases that we see, or
it's the personalities that you deal with in law enforcement, because,
believe it or not, Type A personalities that are drawn
to law enforcement often oftentimes have a lot of quirks,
myself included. And when you put all those people in
(31:39):
this big p tradition, then you feed them to the
world of law enforcement. It's a heck of a show
to watch. But if I wrote that book, I think
most people would think it was a work of fiction
because they would just not believe that stuff could actually happen.
Speaker 9 (31:50):
My question for you, as a shriff, there's so many
moving parts I have to imagine see that you have
had to deal with. What is the biggest factor that
you've encountered in and keeping morale of everybody that reports
to you intact?
Speaker 2 (32:04):
You know, the onslaught of the police reform bills is
I mean, I don't even know how to codify that
as one thing, but you know this constant narrative in
the state of Colorado that we've seen over the last
you know, six seven years that law enforcement is bad
and criminals are the victims of our efforts. That movement.
I don't know how it happened. I don't know when
(32:25):
it happened, but I know it's a disgusting trend that
it needs to stop. At one point, the Democrats now
at the state Legislature were very much pro victim They
cared about victims rights. They and rightfully so, we should
all care about victims. We wanted to restore victims. We
wanted to look out for him, and now it's kind
of like, hey, yeah, you know they're victims, but you know,
(32:45):
how do we fix the criminal? How do we make
the criminal whole? Even to some of the news breaks
we've heard where the murder of Denver police officer Donnie
Young's is already looking at getting out on parole potentially
he got an eighty years sentence and he's looking at
getting out of prison. I mean, that's just there's no
justification for that whatsoever, except for the people down at
(33:08):
the State House keep passing this nonsense, and that stuff
is pretty it's pretty hard in the law enforcement ranks.
But I'll tell you this, most of the people that
get into this job have a desire to serve. Their
relentless and their need and their desire to protect their communities,
even if it means, even if it means we arrest
the same person over and over and over again until
(33:29):
we finally get him to a place where they can't reoffend.
That's all it matters. And you know, it's all about
keeping the community safe. And we have in my agency specifically,
I can speak for that. I have some of the
best men and women that you could possibly ask for,
and they do God's work every day. It's been it's
been a complete joy to be the Sheriff of Weald
County for all this time, you know, twenty seven years
(33:52):
in the agency, in the last ten as sheriff. Two
more to go, well just shive to We'll see how
that plays out. But it's been a pleasure to set
in this seat for the last day two now, I
guess you know, I got a chance to work with you, Ryan,
I got a chance to find out that Kelly is
probably a communist because she doesn't like bacon or chocolate, right,
(34:12):
but we won't hold it against her. She's just she's
just a little nuts.
Speaker 6 (34:16):
She's just gonna say, you're at the best.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Well I am calling it, yes, ma'am. That's been. It's
been great. I couldn't wish for more. And you know,
I hope we get a chance to fill in again
sometime in the future.
Speaker 6 (34:29):
I think my popular demand you will be.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
That sounds like a great idea. So again, signing off
here on the Dan Caplas show, This is well Kenny
Sheriff Steve Raims, and it's been an honor to fill
in for the Great Dan kaplis and work with Ryan
and Kelly as they keep me on the rails. Thanks again,
we'll see you next time.
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